Ace
by chasingfiv3two
Summary: Not looking before I crossed the road was the worst decision of my life. Aomine/OC
1. Anger

**_Anger (noun) A strong feeling of annoyance, displeasure, or hostility _**Left crossover then through the legs.

Sweat dripped from the tips of my fingers and onto the hard wooden floor. The sound of shoes squeaking against the floor echoed through the hall but my focus was solely on the sound of the bouncing ball. Each bounce directed the movement of my feet; the rhythm of the ball determined the tempo of my speed.

Turn left, fake pass then JUMP.

A blur of red and black whizzed past me, the ball leaves my hands before she even gets a chance to jump. It sails through the air and I know it'll go in before it does. It spins on a prefect angle and it goes straight through the hoop. My feet reached the ground again and I hear the crowd go wild. The buzzer sounds and I feel Atsuki jump on my back, yelling in my ear.

"WE WON! I DON'T HAVE TO GO INTO PROSTITUTION!" I haven't the slightest idea what she's going on about but if she doesn't get off of me I will flip her over my shoulder.

"I'm going to give you three seconds to get off me" "Here I was thinking I was going to have to jump someone -" "3" "The only person I'd consider jumping is that piece of ass from -" "2" "Seirin High. I'd jump that guy faster than you could say -" "1"

"Basketball – he is one nice looking ARRRGHH" I grabbed her by the hair and flipped her over my shoulder, making sure she landed hard on her back. She groaned for a second then looked up at me and started laughing hysterically.

"You're crazy" I muttered before brushing past our captain and walking off towards the locker room.

"Hey! Number 8!" I turned around at the sound of my jersey number being called to see a short brown eyed brunette running at me with a grin on her face.

"What do you want? And my name's not 'number 8', it's Asami" I stared at her coldly waiting for her to scoff and walk off in a huff like people usually do when I'm like that but instead she just completely disregarded my cold attitude and laughed."My apologies Asami, I just wanted to say how well you and your friend" She jerked her head towards Atsuki who was still laughing on the floor "played today".

"Is that all?" I looked at her, bored with the conversation already. I really wonder why people bother telling another person how well they played, its like 'yes I was there'.

"My name's Riko Aida" She smiled, placing her hand out. I stared at for a second before turning around and continued on my way back to the locker room. She's uninteresting.

"Asami, Wait! Why don't you play for a high school team instead of this... no offence but crappy team?" I admit, the only reason my team made it this far was because Atsuki and I. I turned around to back to her and cocked my head to the right.

"Do you play for a team?" I asked: she looked taken aback before quickly stuttering out an answer. "Well, I uh, I coach a high school -" She scratched the back of her head, blushing slightly. "I asked if you played not coached" "Well, no but -"

"Why don't you play?" "Well, I'm not really interested in playing but you could play for a much better team than this -"

"No one bothers to let someone who barely reaches 5'8 – let alone a girl play for their team" I watched her look at me in surprise.

"But the rules say that they need a solid reason not to let someone on their team, they -"

"They know that but when I did try out, I didn't get the ball once, they refused to pass the ball to me"

"That's not fair -" "That's a nice story" "Come to one of my training sessions" Is she serious? As if.

"You're annoying and I wouldn't come to one of your training sessions even if my life depended on it" With that I turned around, ignoring her protests and walked back to the locker room. Now don't get me wrong, I'd like to say that usually I'm not so mean but there is nothing worse than someone trying to teach you how to a play a game that I was born to play. Literally, my father was a legendary player and wanted his son to be one too, unfortunately for him he got stuck with me, a daughter. I'm ever the disappointment. Ever since I was eight I vowed that I'd be better than a son could ever be.

I entered the room expecting it to be full of rowdy girls who only play basketball to see hot guys but came to an empty room. Everyone must have cleared out, that girl wasted a lot of my time, how annoying. Like I don't know that I should be playing for a better team but no one even gives me a second glance, when I went to the try outs for my high school the coach looked at me and get this, told me the cheerleading tryouts weren't till the next day and then directed me to the sewing club. I

shit you not, he said to me 'Cheerleading tryouts are tomorrow' and proceeded to direct me to the room in which the sewing club took place and not only that but he almost molested me. I shit you not.

*_Flashback* Three rules to remember before I do this Rule 1: Do not insult anyone Rule 2: No swearing at anyone Rule 3: I am not to hurt anyone physically I can do this._

_I walked into the hall and saw boys running up and down the court performing suicides. I observed for a while, seeing that most of the team was pretty talented, there were a couple of guys whose skills were almost on par with mine. I surveyed the room looking for Sensei Kazami, the basketball coach, I saw him sitting at the benches behind the basketball shelves writing notes on each person so I slowly made my way over to him. Now before I had entered the hall, Atsuki had warned me that Kazami was known for being a bit of a pervert and used to be the coach of the girls' volleyball team till there were 'certain' complaints made to the principal so now he's stuck with the basketball team._

_I stood directly in front of him and waited patiently for him to finish off his notes. He looked up at me and suddenly smiled brightly, showing slightly brownish teeth that looked like they hadn't been washed since the age of the dinosaurs. I flinched slightly at his face, he looks like a rapist on drugs, it also doesn't help that he has the shiftiest moustache I've ever laid eyes on. He placed his clipboard beside him and stood up abruptly; surprised I took a step back so that there would be a gap between us but he stepped forward and closed the gap. Shit. This is it I'm going to get raped, say goodbye to my virginity. Remember; go for the lower region if he tries anything._

_"And who might this lovely lady be?" He grinned at me in that ' I will rape you ' sort of way_

_"It's Asami Uzuki" He smiled again and blew the whistle that was hanging from his neck, indicating for the team to get a drink._

_"Well Asami, I'm terribly sorry to inform you this but the cheerleading tryouts are being held tomorrow" Is this his idea of a joke? Does he honestly think I'm trying out for the cheerleading squad? Deep breaths Asami._

_"But the sewing club starts in about three minutes or so, so you better hurry up" he continued "It's down the corridor and turn right"_

_He smiled and put a hand on my shoulder._

_Why is he touching me? Why is his hand moving slowly down my arm and onto my elbow? Is this even legal? I smiled uncomfortably and brushed his hand off my arm._

_"I'm actually here to try out for the basketball team" The last high school I had attended allowed me to play but refused to let me have the ball and I was later reduced to water girl. Happy times. That was sarcasm for those of you who have trouble detecting it._

_"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA" I don't see what's so funny. He dropped to the floor, still wheezing and coughing, laughing hysterically I think I mean it sounds like he's impersonating Atsuki when she's singing but I can't be too sure. At this, a second year, Hetsuya (I think his name is) came towards us and helped Kazami up while asking him what was wrong. This has to be the worst thing that has ever happened to me. Someone please just shoot me. After Kazami regained his breath he looked at me again and took a deep breath._

_"That was the best laugh I've had in a while" He wiped the sweat from his brow "but there's no way I'm letting a girl play for this team, that'd be ridiculous"_

_"I don't see what's so ridiculous about letting me play" I said through gritted teeth. He hasn't even seen me play before and he thinks I'm not worthy of playing for his team._

_"I don't even think there are any players – male or female – that are your height" He jeered "There's also the fact that you're well... a girl and the fact that you don't stand the slightest chance against the Generation of Miracles, that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard and trust me I know these things, I hold the record for being the best coach"_

_Screw trying to be polite, I did not come here to be rejected by some sexist, Hagrid-beard wearing, child molester before I even get the chance to play. He even wants to bring some random shit about 'Generation of Miracles'. Fuck this._

_"The only thing you have the record for is having the smallest prick between those skinny legs of yours, you perverted peasant." Yes, I called him a peasant. Eugh, that counts as an insult. Damn_

_There goes Rule 1_

_"How dare you insult me, I am the -" he spluttered, now completely red in the face._

_"No, shut the fuck up" Rule two, gone._

_"You shouldn't speak to the coach like that" I turned around to face Hetsuya looking down at me in distaste. Where the fuck did this motherfucker come from?_

_"Excuse me? If you could be so kind to piss off, that'd be great thanks, you overgrown troll" I turned back around to the coach who had his mouth wide open and was looking at me like I had just told him I was pregnant with his child which would be disgusting. No idea why I thought of that._

_"You shouldn't talk to the coach like that" Hetsuya repeated from behind me "Or to me in that case, you're a girl, your place is below us. You tramp"_

_With that I turned around and pimp slapped him straight across the face. Well, there goes Rule 3 *End of Flashback*_

Needless to say, I was banned from the hall and now have to attend detention instead of social clubs. It's not like it was the first time that ever happened, why should anyone give me the chance? I shouldn't think about that, it'll just piss me off. I pulled on my shirt and packed up my clothes. I heard the door slam behind me and loud singing coming from the doorway must be Atsuki. How I even became friends, no - actually best friends with her is beyond me. She doesn't even like playing basketball that much, she only plays because she's a gambler.

She bets on everything, that's probably why she was ecstatic when we won the game and claimed that 'she didn't have to go into prostitution', knowing her she probably did something stupid like bet her body or some shit that we'd win. She started playing in middle school after our shooting guard sprained her ankle and Atsuki had bet twenty packets of jellybeans that'd we win. We were going to have to forfeit since there were no reserves – not many girls enjoyed playing basketball, Atsuki loves jellybeans (she loves anything with copious amounts of sugar in it) and so she played and turned out to be really good. Eventually, after getting used to her annoying habits (like eating your food, singing obnoxiously and loudly everywhere she goes and randomly falling asleep midway through a conversation) I started hanging out with her and now we're pretty much best friends.

Most people think she's a weirdo – she is but she's probably one of the only people I can tolerate for longer than a couple of minutes. She's really cool.

"Hey Asa-chan" I turned to face Atsuki at the call of my (stupid) nickname. Why is she looking at me like that?

"What?"

"So, I may or may not have betted that'd we'd win by twenty points at least" She twirled her honey coloured hair as she looked at me nervously.

"But... we won by fifteen" I looked at her, deadpanned.

"I know, which is why I lost the bet" At this she started slowly stepping backwards towards the exit. I don't understand where this conversation is going.

"How much did you bet?" I sighed reaching over to my bag, she's probably just asking for money. Does she think I shit out money or something?

"Well, cute story, you see... I bet this girl that if I won she'd give me that guys number – the one from Seirin – and that if she won, you and I would go to her some of her training sessions"

"Why would you do that?"

"Well she coaches the Seirin team sometimes so either way, I'd get to see that hottie" She smiled and looked up at me. Usually I'd be angry at this but I'll let it slide since we just won.

"Fine, who did you bet?" "Riko Aida" Forget all those nice things I said about Atsuki.

"You have five seconds to run before I Spirit Bomb your face" Anger is the word that is most fitting, I'd say.


	2. Stupid

**CHAPTER 2**

**_stupid_****_(adjective)_**

_**lacking intelligence or common sense**_

Considering the unhealthy amount of crime investigation shows I watch, I reckon I could definitely make Atsuki's death look like an accident. Hypothetically of course. So in a hypothetical situation I _could _decapitate her and feed her head to her dog and no one would ever find out. Or I _could _shoot her straight in the kneecap with a followup of twenty bullets to her head, but I don't have a gun licence – I mean, in this hypothetical situation, of course. Or I -

"_I drove for miles and miles and wound up at your door"_

She's totally fine with everything, she's _singing. _While I'm planning her (hypothetical) murder, she's singing (badly may I just add) effectively attracting the eyes of many of the passengers on the bus that we have to take to get to that damn 'Seirin' school. I thought I could just jump out the window but then I realised that I'm not James Bond and I can't jump out of moving vehicles. After I had caught Atsuki and jumped on her (after she informed me of this bet) and caused her immeasurable pain until I was satisfied, I realised that I could just well.. not go. After I had shared this realisation with Atsuki (while still sitting on her), Atsuki had told me the other part of the deal, if one of us didn't show up to the practices, Atsuki had agreed that if we didn't show up she'd go on a date with one of Ruka's friends, not really date but sort of make happy since it was his birthday which explains the whole prostitution statement. I told her I couldn't care less and that she should go since it teaches her a lesson on gambling then she showed me a picture of him she found on Facebook (she's level: Boss when it comes to stalking people) and I realised that the Devil himself couldn't punish her like this. Don't think I'm shallow or anything, cause he was actually nice looking but, well I'll try to explain it.

His hat had the logo 'Come to Daddy' on it while his shirt looked like he bought it from the 'Douche' market and seemed to be two sizes too small. It was a V-neck that reached halfway down his chest. Let me just emphasise on that – It was a V-neck that was Jersey Shore worthy. On top of that, he was wearing a golden chain with the bedazzled letter 'G' on the end of it (I can't be too sure but it could stand for 'gangster'). He looked like Snooki and Lil Wayne's love child. His face almost made up for it but then, oh yeah there's more, the picture was captioned under 'In da hood so everyfing all gud and getting drunk coz we don' care', I hadn't realise that the outside of a Walmart supermarket was now classified as the 'hood' and apparently you can get drunk off energy drinks these days. You learn something new everyday.

And so, because I am not a sadist I agreed to this and now I'm stuck on this bus with a girl who never shuts the fuck up, going to a practice that I had said I'd rather die than attend it.

Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, this is not the worst thing that's happening this week anyways. It's not what I had said to Ruka previously at the match and the fact that I'm going to look like a complete idiot now, that's not the worst. It's not even that Atsuki's house is getting fumigated for bugs and that she has to stay at my house (and in my room too since we just repainted the guest rooms) for a week, that's not the worse. It's not even the fact that I have to do errand runs for my heavily pregnant aunty (last time I ran errands for her, I almost got mauled by a dog) instead of going to basketball practice, that's nothing compared to what's happening this Friday.

My mother is coming to visit.

Her visits are rare, though I honestly wish they were non existent. If you haven't already guessed, I detest her. Let me share my little sob story with you, my mother and father met when they were in college and were marred by their early twenties. They were a wild couple and married young – completely blinded by love but still managed to get through it. They went straight into the marriage despite the fact that my fathers mother absolutely hated my mother. Anyways, my father pursued his career in basketball and was successful and at the peak of his career, they had me. My father, didn't retire or anything, he continued to play but made an effort to look after me (though he wanted a son) my mother on the other hand, was not so happy – she couldn't be bothered with the likes of me. Eventually, her and my father started to constantly fight over who would have to care of me and then she just left me, on my first day of Kindergarten too. She dropped me off and then she just didn't come to pick me up.

My teacher dropped me off home that day after waiting for five hours and my father wasn't there either so I ordered some pizza and went to bed. My mother didn't visit me until I was eight and she told me she was coming to watch my first basketball game so I practiced until my legs ached and my fingers were numb. During the game when I made my first shot ever, I looked into the audience to see if my mother saw it, to see if she'd stay this time because I had made a shot. I realised she didn't come, neither did my father. She told me she got lost and couldn't find the courts I was playing at and at 8, I didn't see that she was lying or that she reeked of alcohol mixed with cigarettes and cologne. She visited again on my tenth birthday to give my father the divorce papers and her one sentence to me was 'Wow! By the time you're nine, you'll be taller than me' and with that she ruffled my hair and I didn't see her again till I turned thirteen. I think the worst thing about her is that she acts like she gave up all these things to look after me for those first five years of my life, like she did all this hard work by choosing out my babysitters and using my fathers earnings to pay for them. When I turned thirteen she visited again and she gave me an invitation. To her wedding. She got remarried to some man who was twelve years her junior.

That's when I realised that there's no use depending on anyone but yourself, you'll only ever end up disappointed.

* * *

"So, I thought you wouldn't be caught dead coming to one of my training sessions" Ruka smiled smugly at me. I hate people.

"Don't talk to me" She laughed as I turned around to survey her team. They're actually really good especially that red haired guy, judging by the look on Atsuki's face that's the guy she'd 'jump father than you could say basketball'. He jumps higher than anyone I'ver ever seen, it's almost unreal.

By the fourth quarter I've somehow found myself at the benches watching their practice game. Kagami (Atsuki informed me on his name along with all these other details) had just dunked it over one of the guys heads. He's actually quite amazing. The ball is moving up and down the court so fast, my eyes are almost being strained to keep up with it. A blur of blue catches my eye and I see a guy around my height run past number four and two without them even realising it. No way, he's been on the court this whole time, I've just noticed him. It's like he's some sort of shadow. The ball suddenly whizzes past number seven and goes straight to Kagami who dunks it in again. Who passed that? I traced my eyes back to where the ball came from and I see the shadow player turn and run back to the baseline. I didn't even see him.

The buzzer goes off and Ruka blows her whistle and everyone comes rushing in. Atsuki wastes no time and heads straight over to Kagami. She's not easy, I'll just clear that up, on the contrary it's really hard to keep Atsuki's … affections for longer than a day so this guy must be something. She's an excellent flirt. She's going to stand near him but she won't make any contact with him, she'll do this often. Eventually, he'll wonder who she is and ask her. It doesn't have to be in a romantic way, he'll just be curious to know who she is so he'll start a conversation with her to see who she is and knowing Atsuki she'll come off as charming and mysterious and by the end of the conversation he won't know anything about her with the exception of her name. Which'll just drive him to know more and more about who she is. She's a genius and by the looks of it, it's already working. I can see the look of confusion as she walks past him, I bet he's going through all the girls faces on his class to see if she's in his class or if he knows her. I guess it helps that Atsuki is well, drop dead gorgeous. She's quarter Spanish so her hair and skin tone are magnificent and despite the amount of fat food she consumes on a daily basis she's got the figure to rival a swimsuit model.

"Do you attend this school?" HOLY FUCK. I jerked around to see the shadow player, standing directly beside me. I think this counts as a near death experience (that totals that list up to 3).

"Do you do that often?" I ignored his question, curious to as how he does that. His height, build and muscle tone are all at average levels. Weird.

"No, Do you attend this school?" He asks again. I could see Kagami coming our way from the corner of my eye. I coughed loudly, twice and Atsuki was beside me faster than you could blink (One cough = he's leaving the room, two means he's coming towards me and three is that he just entered the room). Kagami stood beside the shadow player and once again gave a curious glance to both of us.

"No, I don't" I would say 'we' but then Atsuki would get made since she's trying to be 'mysterious'.

"Why are you here? What is that you want?" Okay. Rude.

"Your coach is forcing me to come. I don't want to come, this is a waste of time" I regretted say that as soon as I felt the searing pain of Atsuki's heel of her shoe dig into my foot. The shadow player just nodded thoughtfully while Kagami looks annoyed. Good. Stay mad.

"If it's such a waste of time then why are you here?" He looked down at me, eyebrows pinched together. Is he stupid or is he deaf?

"I already told you dumb-ass, your coach is forcing me" I sneered back at him, ignoring the slow numbing of my feet. I will never regain the feeling back into my feet at the rate Atsuki is going about as she digs her heel further into my foot. I will burn Atsuki's damn shoes when we get home.

"No one is forcing you to talk though" He huffed as he clenched and unclenches his fists. I will verbally abuse the shit out of this fool.

"Look you overgrown, fu-" I start but I was cut off by the vibration of my phone. I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms while Kagami just looks down at me and then he … laughs, he honestly just laughs. The nerve of this guy.

"You're so small" He ruffles my hair and Atsuki sneezed (though it sounded suspiciously a lot like a snigger). Small? I'm the tallest girl in my year at school, thank you very much. He turns around to Atsuki and asks for her name. Cue the smile, ah there it is, Atsuki sent him her 'special' smile and I swear if he doesn't react to it he must be gay. I look to see his face see he's as dazzled anyone should be when Atsuki sends you that smile. It really is breathtaking.

I check the message on my phone and it's my Aunty Akita;

_Asami,_

_Can you please be a darling and pick up your cousin Hotorou from his piano lessons? He finishes at five. And I can't believe you didn't know that I'm pregnant again. Did you just think I was gaining a lot of weight? You're a bit stupid sometimes :P_

_Aunty Akita_

_x_

How could I possibly know if someone is pregnant? Does she think I carry an ultrasound machine in my damn pocket? Last time, I asked my English teacher if she was pregnant she burst into tears and I was given detention for two weeks, no way was I going to make that same mistake again. Plus, the last thing on my mind is whether my aunty and uncle are... baby-making. Ew.

I glanced at the time and it read 4:47.

Shit, it should take me roughly twenty minutes to get there. Oh man, I grab my bag and I start sprinting, I hear Atsuki call after me.

"Where are you going, Asa-chan?"

"Hotorou! See you at home."

That's all the explanation Atsuki needs and I'm off sprinting to the bus.

* * *

Turns out, Hotorou actually finishes at six, so I just walked to the park right across the studio. It's right next to some school, 'Touou' it's called. I dragged my feet in the sand as I rocked forwards and backwards on the swing. I heard the slam of a basketball to my left, I turned to see someone playing on the court next to me. He's tall, very tall and tanned too. He's wearing the Touou uniform.

He's amazing, the way he dribbles the ball and dunks it so gracefully. He's better than Kagami. I watched him run the ball up and down the court with such ease that it almost seems as he were lazy in his manner. The ball just seems to smoothly glide from his hand and straight into the hoop. I watched him until he picks up his bag and puts his ball away. I wonder what the time is anyways, I pulled out my phone.

6:16

Fuck. I looked up across the street to see the children all being collected. I see Hotorou waiting patiently with his teacher, he's an angel I swear. I called out his name and wave at him, he smiled brightly and held up what looks like a little piano keychain with a bow on it. How cute, I wish he was my little brother but I think I'd probably spoil him to death. I started to walk across the road and continued to wave at him.

BEEEEEEEEEEEEP.

"Hey!" That's the last thing I hear before the wind is knocked out of me and I go flying onto the ground or maybe it's grass since it's so soft. I closed my eyes upon the impact. I can't breathe properly. All I can hear are horns beeping in behind me, I can hear Hotorou screaming and I can hear the soft breathing of the ground. Wait. The ground can't breathe. My eyes shot open and my head jerked backwards and I see the dark blue eyes of the guy from the basketball court laying underneath me. He's looking at me with an extremely annoyed face. I looked around and found myself planted on the ground on the pavement. How'd I get here?

"You're so stupid" If I wasn't so uncomfortable or confused right now I'd pop this prick one straight in the mouth. One minute I'm walking to Hotorou, the next I'm lying lying on random stranger. HOLY SHIT I'M LYING ON SOME RANDOM STRANGER. I hastily got up, brushing my hands on my jeans and I stuck out my hand, offering to help him, he gives me a 'as if you could help me up' sort of look and gets up himself. Rude.

"Um .. so what happened?" I asked him awkwardly shuffling my feet and twiddling my fingers. He looked down at me (what is it with me meeting extremely tall people today?) and shoved his hands into his pockets.

"You walked across the road without looking and almost got ran over" He shrugged "I pushed you out of the way"

I look down at his arms and I wince, his right arm is all bloodied and scraped while his wrist has already started to bruise.

"Wow um-"

"Whatever" With that, he picks up my phone, grabs my hand and places the phone in my hand and turns around and walks away. Before I could even ask for his name, Hotorou comes running at me at a lightning speed

"Asa-chan" He jumps into my arms and sobs quietly.

"What's wrong?" I asked in a soothing tone. I hate it when he cries.

"Why didn't you look both ways before you crossed? You could have got hurt" He cried into my shoulder "At least that nice man saved you"

"Yeah, that was very nice of him" I rocked him back and forth.

"What did he say after you thanked him?" Hotorou looks at me, rubbing his let eye while sniffling. Right. I'm supposed to thank someone after they save your life. My bad.

"Well, I didn't exactly thank him since, well he, I was going to but, you see-"

"You're stupid" Hotorou looks at me, his face completely serious.

I've been getting that a lot today but if I was so stupid then why can I easily plan a murder and not get caught? Hmm? Riddle me that.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you all for the reviews! It really surprised me :3. My updating will most likely be random so yeah and for all the 'shipping wars', I sincerely hope this clears some of that up :L and I'm also terribly sorry if Kagami is OOC. OTL**


	3. Thank you

**Chapter 3**

_**thank (verb)**_

_**express gratitude to (someone), esp. by saying "Thank you" **_

The first time I had ever broken my arm at age seven, my father didn't take me to the doctor until the next day and my arm was so swollen they had to cut my sleeves open to bandage it. It's not that my father was a bad carer, I just didn't tell him nor did I show any signs of it. I never liked hospitals or doctors or anything like that. I don't like places where people take care of me, I never have, never will. My father never fussed over me when I was sick, which is a good thing for me. My Aunty on the other hand, well.

"Are you sure we shouldn't take you to the hospital?" She asked for the umpteenth time as she waddled over to medical cabinet to get an aspirin. As soon as I came over and dropped Hotorou off, the first thing to come out of his mouth was "Asami almost died!", that sent my aunty into a frenzy of course.

"I'm fine, I don't even have one scratch" I protested, pushing the capsule away from me. If there's someone who needs an ambulance, it's her; that baby looks like it can pop out any minute and she's only six months into the pregnancy.

"You should have seen it, Okaasan" Hotorou bounded around the kitchen happily "The nice man came out of nowhere - he was so fast - and whoosh just lifted Asa-chan out of the way"

"Okay first of all, he isn't _that_ fast since he was pretty much right behind me" I rolled my eyes "And he didn't 'lift' me, he just pushed me out of the way, don't make it out as if he were superman or something" Hotorou, of course, ignored me and continued to run around the dinner table flying his toy airplane.

"What man?" Akita stopped her waddling about and looked at me. Great, that's the 'I think I'm cupid but I'm really just a super nosy aunty who needs to get a better hobby' look – she gave it to me when I first introduced her to Ryota, she thinks she's some sort of professional matchmaker.

"It was just some guy who pushed me out of the way" I sighed as I started to unravel the layers of unnecessary bandages she put around my arms. Akita waddled over to me, that same look still on her face. She pulled out a chair and gave me one of her other infamous smiles, the 'Tell me what happened or I will end your existence' smile (she has multiple facial expressions – most of which end with up with you being inflicted with pain)

"Was he handsome?" She took a sip of her grape and chocolate flavoured smoothie. She's having her crazy cravings, when she was pregnant last time she craved banana skins.

"I don't know, after a near death experience the first thing I think to do isn't to check out the first person I see" That's a lie. I do know for a fact that if I was Atsuki, I would have jumped him faster than you could say basketball. Though speaking of near death experiences, that brings up the list to 4 now. There's the time I almost got mauled by a dog, when Atsuki thought she was a drift King and we were go-karting, she crashed me out of the whole track and I broke my wrist, the time I almost had a heart attack from that Shadow guy and when I almost got run over. Near death experiences total: 4. I live a crazy life, obviously.

"What did he say after you thanked him?" Like mother, like son I guess.

"Well, I didn't actually... thank him" I kept my head down as I started to unravel the bandages on my left arm.

"..."

Well, she doesn't seem upset. I thought she'd go all Godzilla on me but it seems like she's not. Must be the pregnancy which is weird because when she was pregnant with Hotorou she threw a pineapple at me for looking at her funny. She was one crazy woman. Though the best 'crazy pregnancy' moment was probably when we were getting ready for a party and she couldn't fit into her dress, oh man it was hilarious – she started sobbing and my uncle had no idea what to do. Then she started -

"ASAMI UZUKI! ARE YOU MEANING TO TELL ME THAT YOU HAVEN'T THANKED THE BOY WHO SAVED YOUR LIFE?"

Well. She certainly has a pair of lungs on her, she stood up and cocked her hip to the left and rested her hand on her hip. She took deep breaths and slammed her fist on the table, She looks worse than the time I told her I had been suspended from school for (accidentally..) throwing a basketball at Maria Yuuta's face which broke her (fake) nose. Hotorou immediately stopped running at the sound of Akita's fist slamming onto the table, took one look at his mother's face and jetted upstairs to his room.

Traitor.

"Well.. I wouldn't call him a boy, I mean he's taller than you" I shrugged, continuing to take off my bandage.

"DON'T GET SMART WITH ME" She yelled while waving her arms about. Heh. She looks like a penguin. "IF I DIDN'T HAVE A FETUS GROWING INSIDE ME I WOULD HAVE SLAPPED YOU HALFWAY TO CHINA"

She's still creative though.

"He walked off before I even got the chance" To be honest, I didn't even think of thanking him.

"NEXT TIME YOU SEE THAT BOY, YOU WILL THANK HIM" She pinched the bridge of her nose and sat down.

"I don't want to though" I carefully placed the bandages back onto the table. I know I sound like a spoilt brat but I mean it's no big deal. Doctors save lives everyday and people don't make a giant fuss about them and it's not like this guy was nice about it, he said maybe two sentences to me and the first one was an insult.

"Asami, If you don't say thank you to that boy I will never buy you black liquorice again nor will I ever cook for you again and I will make your father cook for you" No. Please let her be joking. I looked to up to see her completely serious face. My father and I both can't cook to save our lives, last time we tried a 'daughter father' bonding thing where we cooked together. Yeah, no. I still have the burn mark on my neck and it took almost a month for my left eyebrow to grow back. I had to get Atsuki to draw it on.

I can always just _say _that I said thank you but not really actually do it.

"I will be there when you say thank you" She started "So don't even think of lying to me"

She should be a cop.

* * *

"YOU ALMOST DIED? WAAAAAAAH! YOU BAKA" Atsuki didn't hesitate to whack me across the head with her bag. I knew she'd be like this, she had a panic attack when I told her I almost got mauled by a dog. She insisted that I went to the hospital to get 'a rabies shot'. As soon as I had entered my room Atsuki pounced on me asking why I took so long and why Akita called my father to make sure I was taking aspirin if ever I were to feel pain (Like I don't know to take pain relief tablets to _relieve _pain)

"It's a good thing I didn't right?"What's the big deal anyways? You would've thought I almost got kidnapped by the way they were going.

"Don't joke around" Atsuki sighed "How did you … survive?" Should I tell her about the guy? I think it's better if I don't... but I don't like lying to Atsuki. I can twist the truth, does that count as lying?

"I managed to get out of the way last minute thanks to.. speed" I didn't necessarily say it was _my _speed that got me out of the way. She won't pick that up.

"Wait, Your speed or the cars speed?" Shit. She looked at me curiously. I can still do this, come on.

"Well it wasn't the cars speed" I shrugged while playing with the bag strap. Please stop asking questions. Please.

"So your speed?" She leaned forward with a certain gleam in her eye. She knows I'm lying. I can just pretend to fall asleep, she'll believe me right?

"Don't try and pretend to fall asleep" Okay, maybe not.

"A guy pushed me out of the way" 3..2...1

"**AAAAHHHHHHH**" She squealed happily and danced around the room happily.

"This is exactly how it is in the movies, how sweet!" He was not sweet

"Was he hot?-"

What happened to Kagami?

"Was he tall?-"

Who cares if he's tall?

"Did you swoon as he carried you away in the sunset?-"

Who still says swoon?

"What'd he say after you thanked him?-"

Okay, so is it universally known that the first thing you're supposed to say after someone saves your life is 'thank you'?

"What were his parting words? Something romantic, I bet!"

If I remember correctly it was 'Whatever'.

"Hmm, we should double date. I mean, I have to actually date Kagami first but, details-"

"Please stop. He just pushed me out of the way, that's it" I sighed, she ignored me (of course)

"or maybe, there's this cool restaurant near my house but I think it's being replaced with a sushi bar which-"

"I don't even know his name, nor am I even looking for a relationship especially with an asshole like him"

"I really like my brownish dress but it might clash with my hair and skin tone.. but there's that red one I got for-"

She does this a lot. It usually goes on for a bout an hour till she realises I'm not listening. But seriously, I mean sure, he had a nice face and sure, in the position we were in I was able to feel a six pack through his shirt and sure, he's pretty good at basketball but that doesn't get rid of the fact that he was really asshole-y. Why he bothered pushing me out of the way in the first place still eludes me, the only reason I can honestly think of was if he wanted a chance to feel me up, though he could do much better, I mean i'm only a 'c'. I mean, he couldn't see my face from the back so he could've thought I looked like Miss Universe or some shit though I'd like to say I'm pretty average looking. Black hair, light skinned tone and hazel eyes. But it's still really mystery to why he saved me.

"I also like the blue outfit I got last year for that carnival we went to in Kanazawa" Atsuki babbled on completely ignoring the fact that I stopped listening to her about ten minutes ago.

I still don't know how I'm going to thank him.

* * *

So, here I am waiting for Hotorou and for the guy who saved me from a car that almost ran me over. I should really come up with a nickname so I can stop referring to him as 'the guy who saved me from the car that almost ran me over', Atsuki came up with 'Mr. Tap that' but for certain reasons, I've chosen not to use it. I've decided, since my aunty is parked right in front of the music studio watching me like some crazy stalker I should just say thank you, smile and walk away. That should do it or maybe I could just-

SPLAT!

What the fuck? I felt something whack me from across the back and there's that sound... it's the sound of children. How I detest the sound of children, I can't stand them. I can only stand Hotorou, the rest of the children in the world should've stayed as sperm cells. I turn around to see a little boy maybe a bit older than Hotorou running towards me with his little friends, I reach over and feel my back, there's something on my shirt and it feels like mud.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to throw that at you" The little boy smiles at me toothily. This is my favourite shirt, I bought it when I was in Australia. I will shove my foot down so far this little shit's throat he'll shit out my shoelaces.

SPLAT!

Another one is thrown, this time it's directed at my chest. The mud splatters all over my shirt upon impact and some of the mud even lands on my arms and the side of my neck. I wiped the mud that managed to make contact on my skin off of myself and glared at the children.

"LOOK YOU LITTLE SHITS I WILL EAT YOU ALIVE" Who cares if I scar them for life, I will end their short existence.

"Asami!" Oh for fucks sake. I turn around and see my aunty waddling towards me looking at me with an extremely happy face. The kids take this chance and run off wildly, I think one of them was crying. What sooks.

"Yes?"

"What was that? Actually, don't tell me" she waved her hand at "but I found out that the boy's name is Aomine Daiki – I asked one of the teachers at Touou"

She's a better stalker than Atsuki.

"Asami, what's that on your shirt?" Oh yeah, there's mud and grass all over my shirt and it smells, fucking hell, I hate kids.

"Mud"

"Oh there's a shirt in the back of the car, I think it's Atsuki's, you can get changed, there's a change room in the studio" What sort of music studio has a change room?

"Why is there a change room in the studio?" I asked her, curious.

"I think there's a dance studio in there as well, just go and ask the lady at the front desk but I think it's connected with the high school's change -"

"Cool, thanks" I walked past her and towards the car before she got to finish her sentence, it probably isn't important anyways. I opened the back door and try to find the shirt, I see a piece of pink material. Great, not only do I hate the colour pink but I look horrible in it too.

This shirt is tiny, it looks like it belongs to Hotorou.

I walked to the lady at the front desk.

"Hi, um where are the change rooms?" Does this woman know that she has spinach stuck in between her teeth? It's right dab in the middle of her two front teeth, I can't stop staring. It's right there, how can she not feel it? I can't even concentrate on what she's saying, why doesn't she run her tongue over her teeth? It's like the size of fucking Africa, seriously-

"Yeah and then just make sure you go into the right one and not the school one kay?" She smiled at me then spun her chair around and picked up her phone. Wait, where is it? What school? The music school? Whatever, it can't be that hard to find it, oh well.

_Change rooms THS_

How did I miss the giant sign that says 'change rooms'? What does the 'THS' stand for? Who cares, I just need to get changed out of this damn shirt. I pull at the handle, ah shit, it's locked. Or not.

'PUSH'

Of course it says push. Stupid door, I can pull it if I want to. Woah, this looks like a locker room, there are lockers on the sides and benches in the middle. At the end of the locker there's a door that I'm pretty sure leads to the private small rooms that you can change in. I walk towards and this time I push the door open, huh, it's pretty small and there's no lock either. There's no one here anyways plus, they only teach ballet here for girls so if anyone does walk in it's bound to be a girl anyways.

I closed the door and pulled off my shirt, man, what's in this mud? It smells gross. Where did I put that pink shirt? Fuck, how can I lose it in like three seconds? I looked around the cubicle – there! I left it hanging on the doorknob. I grabbed the shirt and well, attempted to put the shirt on. Why is this shirt so tiny? I managed to get half of my arms through, success! I just need to fit my head in now. I can do this.

I think my head is going to explode. This damn shirt won't go past my elbows or my head. If I put my head in first then put my arms in first I think it'll slip on so after five minutes of struggling I managed to pull the shirt off completely. You know what, this shit just won't fit, I'll just call Aunty Akita to get me a different shirt and I'll change into that.

_Click._ The door swung open.

Aomine Daiki A.K.A the guy who saved me from being run over by car is currently standing at door and I am wearing nothing but a bra (that I got from Aunty Akita so it's very slutty) and denim shorts – I look like I belong on the Victoria Secret runway (minus my face). Someone please shoot me in the head. Why is he even here? Oh my god. I can't move or talk or stop staring. He's not even looking away! He's just looking at me weirdly.

"This is the boys change room for the Touou basketball team, you should really invest in some glasses" Are you serious? I look past his shoulder and I can see ten other guys changing and talking to each other. Thank fuck he's tall and they can't see me. Okay, who cares that I'm half naked. Just play it cool.

"I didn't know that. That is some brand new information" He looked down at the tiny shirt in my hand and then at my dirty shirt on the floor.

"Are you planning on putting some clothes on?" He looked me up and down and leaned against the doorframe. For fucks sake. Why can't I just die, This is more embarrassing than the time I accidentally grabbed my math teachers boob.

"Funny story, I um don't-" Before I could finish my 'funny' story he threw something and it landed on my head. What the fuck. I can't see anything, Did he fucking throw a grenade or some shit? I can't see. Oh wait, it's a … jacket?

"Take that and get out, stupid" He rolled his eyes at me and clicked his tongue impatiently. No way am I wearing this, I'd rather go half naked.

No I wouldn't.

I slipped on the jacket and zipped it up and picked up my shirt. This damn jacket keeps rolling down my arms and it's longer than my shorts.

"My name's Asami not stupid" I folded up the sleeves and looked up at him. He shrugged and without any warning whatsoever he took his shirt off and threw it past my shoulder and it landed on the mini bench behind me.

WHAT THE FUCK? IS THIS GUY MAGIC MIKE OR SOME SHIT? JUST BECAUSE I WAS HALF NAKED DOESN'T MEAN HE HAS TO TAKE HIS SHIRT OFF, I DON'T PLAY THOSE GAMES! AND IT'S NOT EVEN POSSIBLE TO HAVE AN EIGHT PACK, THAT SHIT MUST BE SPRAYED ON!

"Are you going to get out or are you going to watch me get changed?" Oh. Right. He's getting changed. He walked past me and dropped his bag on the floor. I shook my head and quickly brushed past him. This has to be the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to me. Just as I was about to leave I turned around to him as he started taking of his shoes.

"Thanks for pushing me out of the way the other day" I closed the door behind me and sprinted out of that building faster than Usain fucking Bolt could have, completely ignoring the gawping faces of the boys who were getting changed and I ran straight past spinach toothed receptionist despite her calls for me to stop running in the studio.

I am just about ready to roll into a ball and die from a mix of embarrassment and pain (while running out of the studio at the speed of light I hit my hip on the door and I feel like I've been shot)

But no that shouldn't matter. Actually, nothing that just happened should matter. No, never mind the fact that I seem like more of a complete idiot than I did before, never mind that Aomine saw me half naked and gave me his jacket, never mind that I was wearing a bra that was fit to be worn by a hooker you could find on the corner (or a changing room in my case) Never mind that my favourite shirt is ruined because of some bratty kids.

None of that matters because I said _thank you_.

* * *

**A/N: Hellur. Okies, this is gonna be a long note and I urge you to read this. First of all, many thanks to the people who reviewed, I am REALLY flattered by all of the super cool reviews I've been getting for this, so a lot of thanks for that. Secondly, I'm really sorry that this has taken quite a while to be posted up, I've been really busy (read: lazy) and the most IMPORTANT note is that this story is connected alongside the fanfiction called 'Rulebook to Life' by Pandora's Curiosity (which i also urge you to read because it's awesome), the characters will meet each other and I hope you like it. If there are any questions regarding this note please just keep them to yourselves. LOLJKS, PM me cause I never get inboxes and I want everyone to understand what's going on. THANK YOU AGAIN GUYS!**


	4. Speed

**CHAPTER 4**

_**speed (noun)**_

_**rapidity of movement or action**_

After the incident where I was caught half naked in a cubicle by the guy who saved my life I learnt several things.

- The pink shirt _did _belong to Hotorou and the shirt Akita was talking about was in the boot of the car.

- The Touou changing rooms are being repainted so they had to (since the they're right next to the studio) use the studio's extra locker room. I obviously did not know this, since I failed to listen to my Aunty and the receptionist didn't know how to clean her teeth.

- Atsuki is going to watch a game between Seirin and Shutoku next week and wants me to come. I wonder who'll she go for considering the fact that she's all hung up on Kagami and her cousin plays for the Shutoku team. I've only met her cousin once and the first thing he asked me was what my zodiac sign was and he was carrying around a flute. As in the instrument.

- Atsuki told me that the reason Ruka wanted us to attend the training sessions was to help out. Ruka wants me to work with Kagami to improve on his speed and I'm not looking forward to it.

- Ryota wants to meet and 'catch up' which usually just means us playing basketball and him whining about how I should go to Kaijo and rabid fan girls trying to pull at my hair.

- Atsuki's house is now bug free, which is good – I'm getting sick and tired of waking up every morning at six to her singing loudly in the shower. Aunty Akita is going to stay at the hospital for a bit to run some tests and so Hotorou and Uncle Tamaka are staying with my other Uncle Tomozaka at his place, so they're nearer to Akita. My father is going to Delhi for a week which leads us to the last (and worst) thing that I've learnt;

- My mother is coming tomorrow and it'll just be us since everyone had decided to abandon me.

And now, my father is attempting to cook and wants to have a 'chat' before he leaves tomorrow morning. After he retired from basketball he partnered up with my Uncle Tamaka and now they run a (successful) business. It's usually Uncle Tamaka who does all the travelling but with Aunty Akita in the hospital and everything, my father thought it'd be considerate of him to go to Delhi business meeting instead (which just happened to fall on the same week my mother was visiting)

"Promise you'll be nice to her" My father looked at me sternly. I rolled my eyes and grabbed a drink out the fridge.

"I won't be" I replied. I may as well tell the truth. I sat across from him on the bench and watched him as he failed miserably at slicing the tomatoes.

"She's your mother and she's coming down all the way from Kyoto just to visit you" Kyoto is a two hour bus ride away from here. It isn't that difficult to visit.

"That doesn't change anything, I don't like her and neither does Aunty Akita" It's true, Aunty Akita can't stand her and never fails to hurl insults her way whenever she visits.

"Akita is … a different story, the point is-" He wiped the knife with a cloth and started to cut the cucumbers.

"Why are you doing this?" What's the point, he always tries to make me … like her. I don't get it, she left me - she left us and he still thinks she deserves my respect? He put the knife down and looked at me sadly. I know that look, that was the exact same look he gave me when he first told me she wasn't coming back.

"Asami, your mother isn't coming down alone" He sighed. What?

"What do you mean?"

"She's coming down with her husband"

She's coming down with _her husband_. She's coming to visit me with _her husband._ She's staying in my fathers house with _her husband_. It'll be me and her and _her husband_. Everything sounds so much worse with her husband in it. She's bring her husband to my home – the same husband who's only eight years older than me.

"Asami?" He waved his hand in front of my face. I always knew that I couldn't expect much from my mother but this, I can't even begin to explain the emotions that I'm feeling right now. I just. I need to.

"I'm gonna go for a run" I put my drink down and headed towards the front door.

"Asami! We need to talk about this, don't-"

"Don't wait up for me – Have a safe trip"

"Asami!"

I was out the door before he got the chance to say something else.

* * *

Inhale. Exhale.

So I seem like an ungrateful angst-filled child who doesn't listen to her parents. I just.. I don't understand. She left us and now she's coming back with her new husband and she's so _happy._ I shouldn't care, I really shouldn't but it's so hard not to notice that she's swapped us in for her new husband and she's so much happier with him now. I'm just so frustrated with everything. It's like.. It's like I'm not good enough for her. But who cares, right?

Inhale. Exhale.

My legs are starting to ache and my lungs are on fire. Keep going, don't stop. I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket and ignored it. Run. The street lights are starting to dim. Faster. Everything is slowly becoming a blur, I need to be faster. I need to get away from everything. Run faster. It feels like flying, my feet are barely touching the ground. Faster. I'm almost there, I'm almost at the speed I need to be at. My hearts beating so fast, my legs need to go faster. I'm almost there -

SLAM

Fuck. I tripped over a fucking crack in the cement. My hands are all bloody and scraped now, I was almost there too. My feet were barely even on the ground, a fucking cheetah couldn't of caught me at the speed I was going at. Well, I'm tired and this position is comfortable, may as well just sit here for a bit. I sighed and pulled out my phone. Of course, 31 missed calls – one from my father, ten from Atsuki, eleven from Akita and the rest from … Ryota? Atsuki probably told him that I ran away or was kidnapped or something crazy like that. It might be good to hear from him anyways. I called his number back.

_Ring. Ring. Ring._

"Asamicchi! Atsuki told me that you eloped with some guy who saved your life! Is that true?" Of course she did.

"I didn't elope with anyone. Come play basketball with me, I am at where we usually played"

"... It's almost midnight" It's not like I can read the time or anything.

"I'll play by myself then"

"Wait.. You're by yourself?"

"Yeah"

"... I'll be there soon. I don't think it's safe for you to be out alone at this time" You'd think I was Hotorou's age with the way that they treated me.

"Bring a basketball" I hung up before he could get another word in. I got up and dusted myself off and walked towards the basketball courts. It's still the same as it was before.

This is where I first met Ryota.

I watched him play and I thought he was amazing, he seemed to be limitless in his abilities. I still remember going up to him to ask him if I could play against him and he told me he couldn't sign anything at the moment. Shit like this always seems to happen to me.

*_Flashback*_

_Spin and dunk._

_I watched with interest as the blonde haired boy spun and performed a backwards dunk. He's pretty good, I nudged Atsuki and pointed towards his direction, she turned her head and looked._

"_He's gorgeous, isn't he?" She sighed "Shintaro-kun told me he models as well"_

_Expect her to only notice his face and who's this 'Shintaro' guy she's talking about anyways. I stood up and dropped my bag onto the floor. Let's see how good he really is._

"_Asa-chan, where are you going?" I waved my hand at her and made my way to him. It's a good thing he's alone, wouldn't want to beat him in front of his friends – that'd be embarrassing. I pulled my hair up and tied it up with my hair band. I walked towards him and cleared my throat._

"_Excuse me, I was wondering if you'd like to-"_

"_I'm terribly sorry but I can't sign anything right now, I'm free after practice though" He smiled down at me brightly. What? Sign? _

"_I was actually going to ask if you wanted to play a game of one on one basketball" He laughed and spun the basketball in his hand._

"_You're the first fan to ask me that but I'm sorry I really need to practice" A fan of what? A fan of basketball?_

"_One game?" I asked again_

"_Look I'm -" He looked like he was going to protest again. He must think that I'm not any good at this game. Fine then._

"_I'll beat you" At this his eyes scrunched up, I know I'll beat him. He's not good enough to win._

"_Uh, I play for the -"_

"_One on one and I'll beat you fair and square" He looked at me for a moment and then he bounced the ball._

"_We'll play half court"_

"_Don't cry when you lose" 'There's nothing wrong with being confident with your abilities'. That's what Aunty Akita always says._

"_I'll check first" _

_Check. Pass. Check._

_I'll show him._

_Before he even takes a step towards me, I've already run past him with the ball. Just as I passed he let out a curse. I spun around and performed a perfect layup. _

"_You're pretty good" _

"_You should stick to being a model"_

"_You're so mean! Wah!"_

_Check._

_He dribbles the ball and runs straight past me, spins and performs the same layup. Wait, did he just?_

"_Yeah, I did" He smirked at me before bouncing the ball at me again. Huh, so he's a fast learner than. I'll just have to do something he can't copy. I caught the ball jumped and shot the ball before he got to move._

_Shot after shot after shot and I found out that finding something that he can't copy is actually pretty difficult_

"_There's nothing you can do that I can't counter" He smiled as he wiped the sweat from his brow. I'm leading by one point. He can only copy what he can do... which means..._

"_Since you're a challenge, I'll show you something" I caught the ball and bounced it from my right hand to my left _

"_See if you can copy it" _

_Inhale. Exhale. Inhale._

_I pivoted to my left and took off, his hand shot out to intercept the ball._

_This is it._

_I pivoted again, bounced the ball under his arm and sidestepped him. I caught the ball and shot it in. The ball sailed through the air and went straight through the ring. I turned around and he was in the same position with his hand still out to intercept the ball._

"_I.. How did you?" He looked at me, lost for words. Yeah, come at me_

"_Copy that" I returned his teasing smirk and passed the ball back to him._

"_I can't.. how can I? I didn't even see you, you moved so fast" His eyes were wide with excitement and he threw the ball back at me "Show me again, but slower, then I'll get it"_

_Does he honestly think he'll be able to copy that? I rolled my eyes and did the move again but this time slower, the ball though, this time bounced off the backboard and went in._

"_I got it" He caught the ball and pivoted his foot to the left. My right hand flew out just as his did before to intercept the ball and I easily slapped the ball away. The ball bounced and rolled to the other side of the court. He stayed still and just stared at my hand._

"_I did it exactly how you did, even though you knew what I was going to do, you put your hand out at the same time I did. How ..." _

"_You're not fast enough" I told him bluntly. He didn't move half as fast I did, there's no way he could have pulled it off._

"_But..." _

"_You're too slow"_

"_Teach me"_

"_You can't learn how to be fast" I pulled out my phone to check the time "Look, it was fun playing with you but I've got to go"_

"_What's your name?" _

"_Asami" I don't like being called by my surname._

"_Asamicchi" the fuck?_

"_No, just Asami"_

"_Haha, I'm Ryota Kise"_

"_Well, I'll see you later Kise"_

"_What no kun?"_

"_Goodbye, Baka"_

"_You're so mean!"_

_*End of Flashback*_

Eventually I started calling him Ryota. We met everyday at the courts to play, it's been a while since I've seen him I was supposed to watch him play in the finals last year but I turned up super late, but he told me they had won though we didn't get to talk much since he was looking for someone.

"Boo!" I could hear him coming from a mile away, he's so loud.

"Ryota, thanks for coming" I turned around to see him. He's still the same. Same hair, same eyes and still a child.

"You never get scared" He pouted at me. I laughed and looked around, he didn't bring a basketball.

"You didn't bring a basketball" He laughed lightly and scratched the back of his neck, I specifically told him to bring a basketball.

"Well... I was really excited to come and play with you so I forgot bring the bas-" I cut him off before he could finish. I know he's a bit of an idiot but seriously, how can you forget to bring a basketball when you're going to play a basketball game. Whatever, I'm hungry.

"Let's go and get something to eat" I turned around and walked across the street to the noodle bar and yes, I did look both ways despite the fact that the streets are pretty much empty save a couple of people loitering around the baseball cages.

"Asamicchi! They'd all be closed by now!" Ryota called out to me, running to catch up. I ignored him and continued to walk to the noodle bar across the road. I pulled out my phone and saw five more missed calls from Atsuki and one text.

_Asami, If you don't reply to this I'm going to assume you've been kidnapped. It is 12:03, if you don't contact me in ten minutes I am sending a SWAT team to look for you. Fuck the police, I am sending the fucking Japanese SWAT team after you. Reply back. _

_Atsuki_

_P.S If you have actually been kidnapped and it's a kidnapper reading this, please relay this information to Asami if you can :) thanks _

It is 12:11 and I am fully confident that Atsuki will try and call the Japanese SWAT team to look for me. I sighed and quickly sent a text back.

_Chill yo' tits, I'm with Ryota and we're going over to Ramen Paradise to get some food. Tell Akita I'm fine._

_Asami_

That should do it.

"Why are you still attending Raito high school? Come with Atsuki to Kaijo" Ryota placed his arm around my shoulders. He never really knew what personal space was. I ignored him again and knocked on the front door of the noodle bar.

"Asamicchi! It's says 'closed', There's no one in here. They've all gone back home, don't they teach you anything at that school? That's why you-" Before he could finish the door swung open.

"Ojisan! Please feed me" I bowed slightly to the man who had just opened the door, Fujisawa. He's not my real uncle but I used to help around the shop after his only daughter died and he didn't have any workers. I worked every weekday for free, he's probably one of my favourite people in the world.

"Only you'd come at this time" He sighed and beckoned us to come in "You bought a even bought a boy, this is definitely a first"

"This is my friend, Ryota Kise" Ryota still looked confused to why Fujisawa was still at his shop at this time of the night. He lives in the apartment on top of the shop "Ryota, this is Fujisawa"

"I didn't know you had friends other than that really odd girl" He's very honest and Atsuki isn't that 'odd'.

"It's nice to nice to meet you, Ojisan" Ryota bowed politely and smiled at him. Most adults love Ryota, I mean it's hard not to with him being very.. charming, I guess. It doesn't help that he's a model as well.

"Hmph, are you her boyfriend?" He's also quite straightforward, Atsuki always says that he and I are very much alike but I honestly can't see why.

"No, we're not dating – I would never - I mean she's very attractive – It's just she's more of a sister cause -" Ryota coughed nervously, much alike the time my Aunty asked the same thing.

"Che, you're so nosy and he's not my boyfriend" I rolled my eyes and made my way to the bench "Make me some food, old man"

"I don't know why I put up with you" Fujisawa muttered under his breath as he turned around and beckoned us to follow him "Coming to my shop at the dead of the night bringing random boys, eating my food for free and being so rude"

"I want three bowls of extra spicy ramen please and you know you love me" I grinned at him as he busied himself in the kitchen.

"What did you want?" He called out to to Ryota who had taken a seat next to me. He called, asking for the same as I ordered.

"Ryota, have you played the Seirin basketball team yet?" I asked curiously, I wonder who'd win. The way Kagami and that shadow player play together is amazing but so is Ryota. He turned around with a pout on his face.

"We lost, Kurokocchi and Kagamicchi beat us!" He whined "Kurokocchi even declined my offer to come to my school even though I really wanted to play with him again" Kuroko? That must be the shadow player, what does he mean by 'again'? They've played together before?

"Did Kuroko-kun play on the Teiko Middle School as well?" Ryota looked at me with more of a pout.

"How come Kurokocchi gets a 'kun' at the end of his name? I've known you longer" He jutted out his bottom lip and sighed.

"Answer the question" I rolled my eyes, he's got some sort of complex with the fact that I give most males I know an honorific at the end of their names except for his. I wish I knew Kuroko-kun's first name, I dislike calling people by their last name

"Yes, he did. He was the sixth phantom player of the Generation of Miracles" Generation of Miracles, that's what Kazami was talking about before.

"What's the Generation of Miracles?" I asked while bowing to Fujisawa who had just brought our food to the benches we were sitting at.

"Thank you, Ojisan" Both Ryouta and I bowed at him politely.

"Clean up after you're done" With that he walked up the stairs that led to his apartment. "Kids wake me up at this time, I'm an old man I and deserve respect, che" I should come around more often, I miss him.

"The Generation of Miracles is what my Middle School team was known as" Wow. They have pretty good then, I wish I had watched them play once.

"Who was on it" I asked, genuinely curious. They must have all been downright basketball geniuses to be known as a 'miracle'.

"Well myself, Kurokocchi, Midorimacchi" Why does that name sound familiar? "Murasakibaracchi, Akashicchi and Aominecchi"

Aomine. I feel like everywhere I go, he's there and why does 'Midorima' sound familiar? Have I met him before, I think I have...

"Shintaro-kun!" I snapped my fingers, finally remembering. That's Atsuki's cousin, he's the amazing shooting guard and apparently he's never missed.

"Waaaah! Even Midorimacchi get's a 'kun'" I've actually only met him once but Atsuki is very fond of him so she talks about him sometimes. "Why does everyone get an honorific except for me? You give one to everyone even Atsuki at least calls me Kise-kun"

I call most people by their respective title but I dislike calling people by their surname. I don't put a kun at the end of Ryota's name because he acts so damn immature. Atsuki will add a title to your name if she's known you for more than two minutes and you've managed to keep her entertained. Speaking of Atsuki, my phone vibrated indicating probably another text from Atsuki.

_Asami, Please get home safely and expect me to kick you in the face tomorrow at school for making me worry. Tell Kise-kun I say hello and that I saw his last photo shoot and he looked so kawaii. Also, if Fujisawa is there tell him I say hello too. Akita says that she's going to kill you and then bring you back to life to kill you again and that to Kise-kun that he's welcome to come over to have dinner anytime. Hotorou asked if he can have your basketball after his mum kills you. I'm tired now._

_Goodnight_

_Atsuki_

"Are you going to watch the Seirin game against Shutoko?" I nodded my head at Ryota's question while starting on my third bowl of noodles.

"I'm very interested in seeing Shintaro-kun play against Kagami-kun" I stated, if Shintaro can shoot very well and Kagami has that jumping ability it'd be a very interesting game.

"Even Kagamicchi gets one" He muttered

"Are you going to watch the game?" I asked as I pushed the empty bowl away and grabbed one of Ryota's who was still only on his first.

"Hai, We can watch it together!" He smiled at me brightly "Anyways, I think it'd be best if I dropped you off home now" It's almost two now and knowing Akita, she'll force me to go to school no matter how many hours of sleep I get.

"I'll just quickly clean this up" I yawned as I collected the empty bowls and took the to the sink. So, this Generation of Miracles sound pretty interesting. I know Shintaro-kun is amazing from the way Atsuki talks about his shooting abilities, I mean she didn't even acknowledge Ryota's basketball skills so he must be amazing. I've seen Aomine just practice and he seemed lazy in the way he played so it'd be cool to watch him play competitively, though speaking of him I still have his jacket which I never plan on returning because if I ever see his face again I may die of embarrassment. The only reason why I'm wearing it now is because it was the first thing I saw before I left my house and it's actually really warm. When I told Atsuki what had happened she laughed and said it was very sweet of him to lend his jacket and went on to rant about 'chivalry' and how 'there are few good men out there who are willing to protect a girls innocence'. The more I think about it, the more I realise why she's known as my 'really odd' friend.

"Ready?" Ryota finished wiping the bench top and looked at me. I nodded and headed towards the door.

"Yeah, how are you going to get home?" I asked, closing the door behind me. I should really be nicer to Ryota, he's a really good friend.

"I'll just wait till tomorrow and then I'll catch the bus home" He replied he shoved hands in his pocket and walked slowly beside me.

"Stay at my place" I looked up at the flickering streetlights, I shivered as the cold breeze made contact with my face, sending goosebumps down my spine.

"Well.. I guess I can" He sighed "Why did you call me?"

"I wanted to hear from you, I haven't talked to you since last year"

"Is your mum coming down?" He asked looking down at me in concern.

"Yeah, but who cares?"

"Asamicchi?" He stopped dead in his tracks and looked at me.

"Yeah?" I turned around. Okay, the look he's giving me is freaking me out now.

"Where did you get that jacket?" Jacket, what? I looked down to see what he was talking about. Oh. Well. He must have recognised the jacket since he and Aomine were previous teammates, damn, he has awesome memory. This is embarrassing, if I wrote a book on all the embarrassing moments I've had in this week alone it'd be thicker than the fucking yellow pages. Well, no use in lying.

"I was found half naked in a cubicle and Aomine gave this to me" I continued walking.

"AOMINECCHI!" Ryota yelped. Why is he so surprised? I thought he knew that this was Aomine's "I WAS JUST GOING TO SAY THAT I MODELLED FOR THE SHOP THAT SELLS THAT JACKET!"

Of course that's what he was going to say. Why am I so stupid?

"HALF NAKED? WAAAAAHH! ARE YOU TWO DATING?!" Ryota ran up to me and stopped me, grabbing my shoulders and shaking them slightly.

"No."

"WAAAAAH! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME!"

"I'm not dating him!"

"BUT YOU'RE BOOBS AREN'T EVEN BIG ENOUGH HE – OWWW" I turned around and sent my fist straight into his stomach (bruising my knuckles in the process). My breast size is none of his business.

"I'm not dating him for the last time and if you say anything about my breasts again, I'll shove you back up your mother's uterus" I threatened him, he nodded his head and took a step back. I crossed my arms over my chest, my boobs are bigger than Ruka's right? And to think I'm going to let him sleep in my house and I called him a good friend. Hmph.

"Asamicchi?"

"..."

"Asamicchi?"

"..."

"Are you upset about the comment I made?"

"..."

"If it makes you feel better, I think your boob size is just right -" Before he got to finish his sentence I turned around and tried to pounce on him.

"YOU BETTER RUN KISE" I didn't even need to warn him, he was already running down the road.

"I'M SORRY! I WAS ONLY TRYING TO MAKE YOU FEEL BETTER! WAAHH! SO MEAN!" I set off straight after him, almost catching up with him.

These moments are the moments I'm really grateful for my speed.

* * *

**A/N: A lot of people have been asking me lots of questions, unfortunately, I've been pretty busy since I'm a full time internet addict. So, I PROMISE that I will get around to answering your questions. Thank you so much for all the reviews and yeah (Y)  
**


	5. Dupe

**CHAPTER 5**

_**dupe (verb)**_

_**deceive; trick : the newspaper was duped into publishing an untrue story.**_

"Thanks for letting me stay, again" Ryota grinned, he yawned slightly as we made our way to the bus stop. He slept in the guest room last night though around four in the morning he woke me up and asked me to cook him something to eat. I told him to go back to sleep or I'd kill him, he didn't get up again until the sun came up. So, today's the day. My mother is coming down and I am less than excited, I checked the time and sighed, 1:22. Ryota didn't end up going to school and just sulked on how 'Kasamatsu-senpai' is going to kill him. Though he's also been receiving threats all day from me since he wouldn't stop pestering me about Aomine's jacket.

"Don't mention it"

"My bus is here" Ryota pointed to a large bus, I nodded glumly, I wish he could stay longer. I really missed him. We stopped in front of the bus.

"Please take care" Ryota took a step forward and gave me a tight hug. I inhaled his scent and sighed slightly, I'm really going to miss him, I should try and see him more often "I hope you work things out with your mum"

"Yeah, me too" I let go of him and watched as he boarded the bus, still grinning. I waved and watched as the bus started to drive off. I guess, it's time to go home now – my mother is coming down this afternoon, in less than five hours actually. Akita is still at the hospital so I've decided to skip school and just hang around until I have to see my mother. I just don't feel like going anywhere today, I don't wanna even go home. I put my hands in my pockets and started my way back home, I looks like it's going to rain soon.

"HEY!" I looked around and saw a boy with black hair waving at me frantically "CAN YOU PLEASE GET MY BASKETBALL?" He pointed near my foot, I looked down and saw a basketball rolling near my foot.

"Sure" I picked up the basketball and made my way towards him, he smiled at me warmly and held his hands out for the ball.

"Thank you"

"Um... Can I play?"He looked taken aback for a second before nodding and pulling my arm towards the other boys. I haven't had a good game in a while and I'm getting kinda rusty and from the looks of it, Ryota has gotten even better than he was before. Maybe I won't be able to beat him anymore. Sure, these guys look like they're about thirteen but it'll still be fun to play with them.

"Hey! She want's to play with us!" The black haired boy called over to his friends who all came running towards us.

"What's your name?" The black haired boy asked, his eyes sparkling with curiosity.

"Asami Uzuki" I waved lightly, I'm not the best at meeting new people so... this might be kinda hard.

I surveyed the boys and smiled slightly, well, these young boys are definitely gonna be lady killers when they grow up. The shortest boy had dark brown hair that fell in front of his light brown eyes and was holding a pikachu backpack. He was standing beside the tallest boy (maybe six inches taller than me) who had blonde hair but the exact same eyes as the shorter boy though they were partially hidden from the shadow that was cast from his hat. They're probably brothers. The black haired boy with the grey eyes, the one who called me over, was standing in between what I assume to be twins, they both had brown hair and bright blue eyes that shone brightly against their tanned skin – they didn't look full Japanese actually they didn't look Japanese at all. The last boy had blonde, almost white, hair and he looked like the oldest – maybe my age. He had his hands stuffed in his pockets and there was a cigarette stuffed in his mouth with several pierces in each ear and one on his lip.

These kids are really tall for their age. I'm not even taller than the twins and they look like they're either twelve or so.

"Yo, Uzuki" The tallest one bowed "My name's Rei Hiroshita – I like your shirt" I glanced down, and laughed, it was an old shirt I got from Akita – it had Sailor moon posing with the other sailor scouts.

"Just call me Asami" He nodded and looked at the shortest boy with an expectant look who glared up at him before sighing.

"My name's Satoru Hiroshita" He rolled his eyes and went back to playing on his DS. Well, someone has attitude but at least I was right about them being brothers.

"Don't mind him, Asami-senpai" The twin on the right waved "My name's Caesar Della and this is, obviously, my twin brother – Alexander"

Let's ignore the fact that he called me his senpai but what's with their names? Those most definitely not Japanese names and most certainly interesting names to have. Caesar? Alexander? Those are certainly names to live up to, a conqueror and a king. What names.

"We're not Japanese" Caesar explained "Our parents.. travel a lot and so we've been living with family friends. We've been here since we were three so we speak Japanese fluently. My mum's half Egyptian half English and my dad's Italian" I nodded my head and smiled at Alexander who shyly bit his lip an returned the smile. Cute.

"I'm Kazu Irozuka – half Chinese, half Japanese since we're talking about origins and all that shit" The grey eyed boy waved again and smiled cheekily "And because this baka won't introduce himself, I'll do it – this is Kain" Kain just took a puff of his smoke and looked the other way. What's with all this attitude that I'm getting?

"Nice to meet you all" I nodded "So, do you guys play?"

"Fuck yeah, we do" My eyes snapped down at Satoru who had put his DS in back in his bag. What the hell?! Did he just cuss? At his age I thought 'shut up' was the baddest word in the book. Well, shit. He noticed my look and sent me a wink that I assure you would have looked sleazy if here six years older and ten inches taller.

"Alright, it's gonna rain soon so we better hurry up" Kazu clapped his hands "Numbers are uneven with our new recruit so, we'll put Rei and the newbie on the same team and their team will have less players since they have the tallest"

"So on my team, I have the new recruit and I'll take Alexander" Rei grinned happily, spinning the basketball on his finger. I don't like being called the 'new recruit' or 'newbie'

"We'll kick your ass – you giant jerk" Satoru laughed gleefully before stealing the basketball from Rei's hand and running towards the court, Caesar and Kazu hot on his heels.

"What brings you here?" Kain looked at me from under his fringe as we made our way to the courts "You don't look like you'd play basketball, to be honest – more like a prissy stuck up"

"Well, you look like you're going to summon the fucking Dark Lord with that outfit" I gestured at his dark outfit and his piercings "So, I guess looks can be deceiving"

"Funny" Kain grumbled before throwing his cigarette down and stepping down on it "I still think you're too soft for this, princess"

"Correct me if I'm wrong but you all look like you're twelve so I'm sure I can handle whatever you throw at me"

"I'm sixteen tomorrow" He looked at me from the corner of his eye and yawned "Rei is sixteen at the end of the year, Kazu just turned fifteen yesterday, Satoru turned fourteen three months ago and the twins are fourteen in exactly three weeks"

"SATORU IS FOURTEEN? WHAT THE HELL? HE PROBABLY ISN'T EVEN 5'! HE LOOKS LIKE HE'S TEN! AND REI IS TURNING SIXTEEN?- YEAH HE'S TALL BUT HIS FACE SCREAMS 'I'M FOURTEEN''? AND KAZU? HE'S... FIFTEEN? THE TWINS ARE THE YOUNGEST? WHAT IS THIS MADNESS?" I threw my hands in the air, what the fuck? I turned my head to see Rei holding back his laughter and Kazu looked indignant.

" I CAN HEAR YOU! I AM FOURTEEN! YOU ASSHOLE!" Satoru yelled at me, his middle finger high above his head. That little shit "AND I'M 5'1!"

"Yeah, we get that a lot" Rei laughed for a second before stopping suddenly, his face turned dead serious "Do you strip for money?"

"... No I don't" I looked at him oddly but he just shrugged and continued walking "Why do you ask?"

"I was just wondering but thanks for answering" He shrugged again "Most of the girls I asked slapped me when I asked them and didn't answer" It's just a question, if I were curious about something i'd ask. Though it does strike me as odd that he'd wonder if all girls stripped for money. But whatever.

"Enough with all the talking" Satoru rolled his eyes "Let's play some ball, I can't wait to wipe that stupid smirk off your damn face, Rei"

"Don't make me come down there, Satoru" Rei bent down slightly, ruffling Satoru's hair – who retaliated with a kick to Rei's shin.

That's brotherly love right there.

"Alright, we'll play full court" Kazu called out "We play the Rumble Rules – for the recruit"

At this Rei groaned while Satoru jumped in the air, ecstatically. I don't understand.

"Let's play"

* * *

"Asami!" I caught the ball and managed to dribble it pass Caesar, or Alexander, I'm not sure. I roughly pushed past Kazu and I performed a layup just before Satoru came barrelling into my side. I held my hands out and caught myself just before we both went toppling.

So what I've learnt from playing for the last hour or so, playing by the 'Rumble Rules' is pretty much just playing normal basketball except there's no rule against pushing, shoving, hair pulling (courtesy of Satoru) and biting. That's what I've learnt so far but there's probably more that's allowed. From what I've learnt about the players, well.

Rei is the worst shooter in the history of all shooters – he told me this himself, quite cheerfully too, just before he shot the ball and of course, missed. He passes quickly though, so quick it hurts when you catch them. His height gives him some leverage and his stamina is unreal, he hasn't even broken any sweat. He's been sprinting up and down the court for the whole game and his speed hasn't faltered and he doesn't even look out of breath.

Satoru is an absolute monster on the court, naturally. His passes are nearly as fast as Rei's and their lower so it's a bit difficult to catch them. His small stature makes gives him a lot of leeway on the court, it's hard to catch him or defend him when you can't even see him. His shots, though it's rare if he does go for the shot, are also difficult to defend. He's aggressive, fast and confident.

Kazu is yet to miss any of his three pointers and he's fast, really fast. Fast enough to just manage to keep my pace when I took the ball down the court, though he wasn't able to follow me when I did a second time, I guess his legs were too sore. His three pointers are usually performed by a jump shot, no matter how much pressure you put on him he's at complete ease and the ball just sails in though it's hard for his team to get the ball to him with Rei defending him.

Despite his shy personality, Alexander's offence skills are just as good as Satoru's, he's just not as aggressive. He's a lot taller than Satoru so he shoots all the time and his drives can get past Kain's defence and he can dunk. He's only or maybe two inches taller than I and he can dunk. I can't believe he's not even fourteen. Caesar on the other hand, his skills are all tactics, plays and amazing observation skills, that's probably why they didn't want the twins on the same team – Caesar's plays and Alexander's offence would be unfair. Caesar seemed to have noticed that while my shots are fast, if the ball leaves from my left hand – it leaves my hand from a lower angle, he took this opportunity and easily defended it.

Kain … is like a sold brick wall – impossible to get past and his defence makes you feel like you're trapped. It honestly freaks me out, it's like you get claustrophobic every time he defends you. I hate it. I know that sounds overdramatic but when he defends you, it's like it's not even a game anymore, you just can't escape and it's worse cause he knows exactly how it makes you feel and it's crazy but it's also amazing that someone could make you feel so panicked and closed off, it makes your passes and shots all off. Even Rei, he's way taller than Kain but I can tell that he feels just as uneasy as I do when Kain defends him.

The ball came whizzing my way and snapped me out of my thoughts. I caught the ball again and dribbled it in front of me. I waited for Satoru who came running, I dodged his jump at me and started running straight to the hoop where Kain was waiting, his hands out. Oh shit. I can do this. I spun around, about to pass the ball to Alexander when Kain slid right in front of me, his hands up.

Shit. I can't breathe. His scent fills my nostrils, the faint smell of cigarettes masked with aftershave. It makes me feel dizzy. I spun around again, but Kain was just as fast and his arm came whipping towards the ball. I pulled it away, and breathed deeply. The only way to get past him is to play by the 'rules', I threw the balls straight into his stomach, he stumbled back, coughing and spluttering. The ball bounced once more and I caught it and threw it without aiming, before Kain could regain his balance. I watched at the ball just missed and hit the ring and bounced back off. And then it got slammed straight back in.

Alexander jumped at the same time that it left my hands, he slammed the ball straight back into the hoop. He landed gracefully and gave me a shy smile. I still find it hard to believe that this kid is only thirteen. His body stature says he could be perhaps my age or older while his face says he's twelve. He's definitely going to be a lady killer.

BOOOM

I flinched at the sudden rumble of thunder, I looked up into the sky and saw a flash of lightning. Small droplets of rain started to descend, landing straight onto my face. This weather fits perfectly for the day that my mother comes down. Just awesome. We all stopped playing and looked up to the sky in unison, you'd think we'd never seen a thunderstorm before. Suddenly the small droplets turned into large pellets racing down to meet us. Caesar immediately ran for cover under the trees where we put all our bags and we followed in suit.

"As much as I'd like to continue, I don't wanna get sick" Caesar pulled up the hood of jumper and pulled the zipper of his jacket that he was wearing over it.

"Are you seriously going to stop playing over some water. You're such a sissy" Satoru scoffed, Caesar just rolled his eyes and starting wrapping a woollen scarf around his neck "And who carries around all that stuff around" Satoru jerked his head in the direction of Caesar's bag which seemed to be filled with extra warm clothes, an umbrella and gloves.

"There's this thing called a weather forecast, you should try listening to it" Caesar then started to pull on his gloves and his beanie. Is there going to be a fucking blizzard or something? Lucky thing I'm not at school, Atsuki is fascinated with thunderstorms and she likes to drag me along with her to stand in the rain with her, she 'oohs' and 'aahs' overs the lightning while I shiver in the cold. Though speaking of school..

"How come you guys aren't at school?" I asked curiously, taking a moment to look at each of them.

"I'm suspended" Rei shrugged "Apparently, it's against the rules to forcibly kiss a female teacher, though I've never read that in the rule book that they provide us with at the beginning of the year so I feel cheated"

"You .. forcibly kissed a teacher?"

"She's young and hot and she was wearing watermelon chap stick and that's my favourite flavour" Of course, that's a logical answer.

"I don't go school unless this wuss does" Satoru jabbed his thumb in Rei's direction "Which isn't often cause he does stupid shit"

"Aren't you in middle school?"

"I skipped a grade, hussy" Satoru jutted his chin out, and looked at me with through slitted eyes. This kid has been calling me a hussy all damn day. Little shit.

"Of course you did, you pint sized midget" Satoru glared back ferociously, his arms crossed against his chest while Rei just snorted loudly. Please come at me.

"We're not going to school because we don't feel like it" Alexander stated, his back leaning against the trunk of the tree, there was a look in his eye that said that there was more to the story but I was too surprised since that was the first sentence he's said to me all day and his voice is surprisingly deep. Like Gandhi deep, that deep.

"So you just only go to school when you feel like it?"

"Pretty much" I guess I can't say much, I didn't got to school either because I didn't feel like it. As much as I'd like to pry, I like the twins and Alexander just started talking around me so I may as well just cherish the moment. I turned my head to Kazu who had the only the slightest hint of a blush as he scratched the back of his head.

"Aha, I wasn't feeling very good today -" He was cut off when Satoru snorted and shoved Kazu to the side.

"He's just an even bigger wuss than you are and he has a crush on some girl" Satoru rolled his eyes "He confessed to her yesterday afternoon after his school ended and ran off before she could reply and he refuses to go back to school because he's stupid and thinks that if he never gives her the chance to give an answer then he can never actually get rejected" His school? They don't all go to the same school? Oh.

"Okay three things - First of all, I'm not a wuss, you dwarf sized piece of shit" I poked my tongue at Satoru who just flipped me the bird (For the third time today).

"Whatever, you flat chested tart"

"You're never going to get a girlfriend, you pesky little runt!"

"Like I'd want one! Especially if she's anything like you, you board-for-a-chest harlot!"

"That's what they all say! But don't come running to me for help on getting a girlfriend when the closest thing you'll get to action is your left hand, you single-for-life hobbit"

"Pfft! As if I'd go to you of all people for advice on girls AND I'M RIGHT HANDED THANK YOU VERY MUCH YOU NO-BOOBED TRAMP!

"EXCUSE ME? YOU SHITFACED PROFESSIONAL WANKER OF A MIDGET! I -"

"OKAY! We get it! Asami is flat chested and promiscuous and Satoru is small and will most likely stay a virgin for the rest of his life – moving on" Kazu cut in, finally sick of our arguing "What were the two other things?"

Both Satoru and I poked our tongue at each other crossed our arms. That little shit, and when did I become 'promiscuous' and how does Satoru even know so many synonyms for the word 'hussy'? I rolled my eyes and turned to Kazu who was tapping his foot impatiently most likely thinking that I had the answers to his problem. Which I don't but I can try.

"Secondly, your theory is stupid"

"We've covered that"

"And thirdly, why are you so nervous for? You're a pretty cool dude and you've got a nice face" I gestured to him, you know, the more you get to know him and stuff the older he looks.

"A nice face?" He repeated weakly, his face losing colour quite quickly. What's wrong with a nice face?

".. yeah, I mean, I think you're attractive – like not in _that _way cause you know – I mean" I struggled, trying to find the right words to say. People tend to say that I'm too blunt so I'm trying not to uh, be too blunt nowadays but it's not going too well.

"That way?" Kazu looked absolutely crestfallen, fuck being 'not too blunt'.

"You're fine" I assured him "You're a nice guy and you're even on my bang-worthy list but you're a complete and utter idiot and a wuss for running away after confessing. Man up and go to meet up with her as soon as possible and confess -or whatever the fuck – to her again and this time, let her answer. If she accepts then that's great, if she doesn't, I promise you I will punch her in the face for you"

"Okay, you're right" He took a deep breath "I'll tell her again today – she usually gets a chocolate shake before catching a bus home so I'll see her then and don't punch her in the face"

"You're a stalker" Kain finally decided to have some input as he lit yet another cigarette, Kazu ignored him and started to rehearse what he was going to say. Caesar started reciting any information he could remember on what a girl would most like to hear when being confessed to, while Alexander was being forced by Kazu to pretend to be the girl he was crushing on. Poor child. Satoru started to annoy Kain by poking at his sides, each time he poked Kain he'd run away and giggle. Kain eventually got sick of it and picked Satoru up and hung him up on a tree branch by the back of his collar. And the scene that played before my eyes made me laugh, this whole scene just describes the way I see these boys.

"KAIN! REI! TAKE ME DOWN FROM HERE! KAIIIN! I WILL BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF YOU, YOU FREAK!" Satoru, a spitfire with a potty mouth that should washed out with soap.

"You owe me a cigarette" Kain, closed off and obsessed with those death sticks

"Ahem, sorry for running off last time, I was nervous. Not that you're scary! I mean I love you, NOT THAT WAY! Like as in your personality. I wanna know you better cause you're – fuck! ALEX STOP LAUGHING!" Kazu, usually cheeky and brazen but becomes tongue tied around girls (but apparently I don't count)

"You told me to try and act like she'd act if she heard this, I honestly just think she'd start laughing. I'm sorry, do you want me to not laugh? I was just trying to stay in character" Alexander, a sweet boy who is unintentionally blunt and weirdly shy.

"Despite popular belief, most girls seem to think that roses and cards are tacky and cheesy" Caesar, a boy just bursting with knowledge and strangely mature for his age.

"Just take your shirt off and kiss her" Rei, one of the most … eccentric boys I know. I laughed at Kazu as his face turned a deep shade of puce, Rei only shrugged and muttered something about trying to help. Well, he is just trying to help.

"THAT WON'T WORK REI!" Kazu yelled, his face now a lovely shade of magenta – he's a very colourful boy, isn't he?

"Well, it worked for me when I tried it on Sensei Rizu, she gave me her number" Rei shrugged again before walking towards Satoru and pulled him off, who was still spewing out cusses like it was his job. Okay, that's disgusting. What sort of teacher does that? Kazu took a deep breath and turned to me with a pleading look.

"What can I do for you?" I raised my eyebrows at his hopeful expression.

"How would you like a guy to confess to you?" Hm, that's an actually really interesting question. Now that I think of it, I've never thought about this before, how would I like a guy to confess or whatever?

"I guess, I'd want him to be straightforward" I mused "I'd just want him to come straight to me and tell me, I think I'd find that appealing though I probably wouldn't want him to take his shirt off and kiss me, sorry Rei"

"To each their own"

"So, you'd just want them to tell you that they like you or something like that?" Kazu asked, his voice sounding uncertain "But won't that come off as .. overconfident?"

"I wouldn't think so"

"Okay, there's one thing for us to do" Kazu clapped his hands together once more "We're going to get Misao Yamahiro to become my girlfriend, this is going to be a four step plan"

"Why is there a 'we' in this plan?"

"First step – We need to get rid of her friends that follow her around all the time so I can ask her without them giggling and making stupid girl sounds, that'll be Rei and Satoru's job" Kazu pointed at the two boys, ignoring my question. Rei saluted while Satoru just rolled his eyes and pulled out his DS.

"Second step – I need someone with with me that'll make sure I don't babble on and shit, that's where the twins come in" The twins nodded, Alexander not looking as enthusiastic as Caesar "Third step – I want a romantic atmosphere, that'll be Kain's job"

"How am I supposed to do that? Do I look like a fucking cupid to you?"

"The fourth and final step – We need to get Misao's older overprotective brother out of the way, that's where you come in, Asami. You'll just need to distract him, don't worry, he's not _that _scary" Kazu nodded towards my direction "Then everything will fall into place"

"Absolutely not" Is this boy delusional? I'm not going to get dragged into some stupid plan.

"Oh come on, think of this as your initiation into our crew" Rei looked down at me and wrapped an arm around my shoulder "You'll make the plan fall to pieces if you don't do your part"

"The plan won't work anyways" I rolled my eyes and shook Rei's arm off "And when did I ever say anything about wanting to join this 'crew' of yours?"

"Please, Asami!" Kazu grabbed my hand and pleaded softly "I know you might me a bit scared since you hold such an important job in the plan but -"

"I'm not scared"

"It's okay to be scared, this is your first mission and I guess it'll be hard since Misao's older brother is a bit intimidating but I'm sure nothing will happen" Caesar reassured me, smiling at me.

"I am not scared"

"I knew you'd be too much of a prissy princess to handle this" Kain shrugged "I mean -"

"FOR THE LAST TIME I'M NOT SCARED" I glared at Kain, why would some guy scare me?

"Prove it" Kain smirked at me, his eyes sparkling as his fingers rubbed the cigarette, letting the ash fall to the ground.

"Fine, I'll do it." I crossed my arms and looked around at the boys. Why do I feel like I just fell into a well orchestrated trap? Kazu was wearing a smirk similar to Kain's and both Rei and Satoru looked smug. I turned my head to the twins and saw Caesar biting his lip, holding back a smile and even Alexander had his lip quirked to the side. Have I just been duped or..?

"I'm only agreeing to this on the condition that we get codenames" Rei slipped his hands into his pockets and looked at Kazu "But it can't be something stupid"

"I don't think having a codename when you're sixteen can come off as not stupid"

"Something that .. defines me" Rei looked at Caesar, ignoring my remark.

"Casanova" Caesar answered, a smile playing at his lips. Are you serious, Casanova?

"Who's that?" Rei looked at Caesar, confusion displayed across his face.

"Casanova, Italian adventurer; full name _Giovanni Jacopo Casanova de Seingalt_. He is known for his memoirs that describe his sexual encounters and other exploits" Caesar recited, I looked at Rei, fully expecting him to reject that stupid excuse of a codename but instead he grinned widely and laughed.

"Couldn't choose a better codename if I tried"

"Satoru's name will be Napoleon I, full name _Napoleon Bonaparte_; known as **Napoleon**. In 1799, he joined a conspiracy that overthrew the Directory, becoming the supreme ruler of France. He declared himself emperor in 1804 and established an empire stretching from Spain to Poland, he was widely known for his short stature. "

"Fuck you" Satoru was grinning just as widely as Rei was until he heard the last part. Poor kid.

"Alex and I will be Castor and Pollux" That's interesting, they're the twins that make the constellation of Gemini. Cute "Kain, you'll be Cupid. Since you suggested it"

"I DIDN'T SUGGEST CUPID! IT WAS A JOKE"

"Kazu, you'll be Romeo and … Asami, you can be … I'm not sure" Caesar looked at me, his eyes calculating. Oh great, I don't want to know what he'll choose for me.

"Er, I don't really want a .. codename, it can just be Asami, that'd be awesome"

"I've got one!" Satoru jumped up excitedly, no. Please no.

"No, I don't want -"

"Okay Satoru, you can choose it" Caesar nodded, not even giving me enough time to send a threat along with my hearty protest.

"The Scarlet Woman" Satoru grinned, his eyes gleaming with satisfaction as I scowled at him.

Yeah, I've been duped.

* * *

**A/N: Hey guys, sorry for the late update. Hopefully the length makes up for the lateness -.-'. If the spacing is dodgy, I'm really really sorry but it kinda got stuffed up when I put it up but yeah THANKYOU SO MUCH FOR 100 REVIEWS ASDFGHFDS. You guys are the best and a special shoutout to 'Lights of Paradise' for the really uber long review. So leave a review and tell me who your favourite character is from the new 'friends' Asami has made. Thanks again :)**


	6. Family

**CHAPTER 6**

_**family (noun) **_

_**a person or people related to one and so to be treated with a special loyalty or intimacy**_

So, remember how I said that it might be good to try and make new friends? Yeah, I lied. This is possibly the worst thing that I've ever done in my life. I've been dragged into some sort of mission or some shit, well at the moment we've been referring to what we're doing as 'Romeo + Juliet' which I don't find very romantic in the least since they both died because they're idiots but that's not the point. Anyways, my sudden epiphany of trying to make new friends has now led me to being dragged all the way to Majii Burger. And I'm now known as 'Scarlet Woman'. Yay.

"Okay, Scarlet woman – there's the target over there, she's surrounded by those three girls in the corner" Rei nudged me and pointed at a girl in the corner. I followed his finger and saw a girl with short brown hair, her amber eyes sparkling as she laughed at something one of her friends said. I looked at Kazu who, before we had entered, was smiling and now he looks like he's about to puke.

"Casanova, Napoleon" Caesar called, both boys nodded and made their way to the table. This'll be good. Rei immediately made his way to what looked like to be - definitely the prettiest girl – her blonde hair literally shines and her eyes were greener than fucking emeralds, I carefully manoeuvred my way through the tables and sat down at a table that was placed to the side, so that I could see more clearly and I was still within earshot. I sincerely hope Rei makes a complete idiot of himself.

"Excuse me, I'm really sorry but I don't live around here" Rei looked away and bit his lip as if he were embarrassed "And … um, do you know where I can find the nearest pound? See my little brother lost his puppy in the thunderstorm and he's really scared that it's been picked up the pound and they usually uh... put down stray dogs"

"Oh that's horrible!" The girls all looked down at Satoru who has half hidden behind Rei's arm, his face somber with eyes that were sparkling with (fake) tears. Are you serious? He's a little monster.

"I really want to go out and look for Satoru's puppy but Satoru is afraid of thunderstorms so we have to stay in here and I.. I'm just really worried" Rei sighed and bit his lip again, his face full of worry and concern. Okay, who would fall for this? Seriously? It's almost laughable.

"Rei-Chan, what if the pound take my puppy?" Satoru tugged on Rei's sleeve, tears just threatening to fall. Oh my god. Rei-chan? He kicked 'Rei-chan' in the back of the leg before we walked in and called him a 'mega jerk'. I think I'm going to either fall off this damn chair from laughing or crying. How can girls fall for this crap? It's so obvious that he's a monster sent straight from hell.

"I'm sure you'll find your puppy" The shiny haired girl sent a small smile to Satoru who only blushed and looked away "How about, um, I'll go with.. Rei and take you to the pound and Satoru can stay here with the girls"

"Really? That'd be great! Thank you so much" Rei sighed in relief and pulled the shiny haired girl to her feet, she blushed and bit her lip. I don't understand, Rei is an idiot, he asked me if I stripped for money. I feel like I'm watching some lame teen drama that Atsuki forces me to watch with all these swoons happening. Satoru tugged on Rei's sleeve again.

"Don't worry, Satoru" Rei ruffled his hair "I'll be right back, just stay here with these girls and I'll be back"

"Come back soon!" Satoru looked up at Rei, his voice sounding as childlike as Hotorou's. The girls all squealed and one of them pulled Satoru right next to her, he just blushed and giggled softly as she patted his head fondly. Giggled? What the fuck. Rei followed the shiny haired girl out into the street though not before sending me a wink. Prick. So how is Satoru going to get rid of those two other girls, leaving just Misao?

"What's your name?" Satoru looked around at the girls sitting around the table, they all smiled and looked down at him.

"I'm Ayamo, this is Misao and Yukari" Ayamo smiled and gestured toward Misao and Yukari who all waved at him.

"Umm" Satoru looked down at his fingers nervously "Can you please come with me to order some food?" He pointed at the long line of people that were waiting for the new milkshake – 'mango tango' to be served. Smart boy, that'll give Kazu at least ten to fifteen minutes, the way that line is expanding.

"Of course" Yukari smiled and slid out of her seat and beckoned Misao to follow but Satoru quickly pulled off his pikachu backpack and placed it on the table.

"Misao-chan" Satoru smiled "Can you please watch my bag, it's very important. Rei-chan bought it for me"

"Oh, sure" Misao looked at the bag and back to Satoru who was still wearing the same smile, he then hopped off his seat and slipped both his hands into the girls hands. Little shit.

"That little boy doesn't look that young to me, what do you think?"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" WHAT THE FUCK? OH MY FUCKING HELL. I swivelled my head around so I could see in front of me and there Kuroko was, just fucking sitting there, drinking his damn vanilla shake. I SWEAR HE'S LIKE A NINJA! WHAT IS THIS?

"I'm sorry, did I frighten you?" Kuroko continued to casually sip his vanilla shake as if he didn't just almost commit a murder by giving me a heart attack.

"How long have you been there for?" I asked, holding my my hand to my chest, breathing in deeply. This guy.

"I've been sitting here the whole time"

"Of course you were"

"Your friend, Shinto-san is here" Atsuki is here? I craned my neck and saw Atsuki and Kagami standing right in front of Satoru, in the line for the new 'mango tango'.

"Scarlet Woman" I jumped at the sound of my 'codename' and turned to see Caesar and Alexander looking down at me, their grins identical "Romeo is about to go in, in about three minutes as soon as soon Cupid is done, and Misao's brother is sitting at the table two tables behind you, he's wearing a bright red hat"

"Okay" I stood up and looked over the heads of everyone and spotted Kain, who had his left hand holding one of the cashiers collar while his right hand had a cigarette that was dangling dangerously close to the workers face. Cupid uses bows and arrows not lighters and cigarettes "What is Kain doing?"

My question was answered as soon as the cashier scrambled out of Kain's grasp and went to the back. The music that was playing before (Take off by 2pm if I'm correct) suddenly stopped and was replaced by a slow song that sounded suspiciously like 'I'll make love you to you' by 'Boyz II Men'. Nice choice. The lights started to dim down with the exception of the lights above Misao's table. I looked and saw Kazu stand up, his face red as he made his way to Misao's table. That's my cue.

"Just keep him distracted for at least ten to fifteen minutes – we'll be right here, listening in and making sure Kazu doesn't say anything stupid" Caesar explained "Make sure Misao's brother doesn't see or hear anything going on at Misao's table. We've done our mission. Don't fail yours"

No pressure or anything. I took a deep breath and slid out of my chair, before giving a last nod to to Kuroko and the twins. I can do this. I just need to 'distract' him which Rei said was just to flirt with him. I can't flirt, at all. When I told this to Rei he just told me to smile a lot because and this is a direct quote 'Your cheekbones are higher than Bob Marley'. I counted the tables and saw a guy with a bright red hat sitting down, eating a burger. I think I'm going to be sick. I slowly walked towards him and took Rei's other advice which was to accidentally spill some of my drink onto his shirt. I 'tripped' over the tabled leg and sent my drink all over the table in front of him, he let out a cry if surprise before jumping out of his seat.

"I'm so sorry!" I gasped and quickly picked up a napkin and clumsily wiped at his shirt fruitlessly (it's already stained) "I'm just so clumsy, I'm sorry"

He looked at me and I sent a smile at him, my lip slightly pursed so that I was almost pouting (Just so you know, I feel like an idiot). He grinned back and waved it off, he shook his head and started to help me wipe the table down.

"Don't worry about it" He grinned "It's gone pretty dark in here so, it's not your fault"

"Haha.. that's so weird. Who just randomly dims the light in a romantic manner? Weird. And what's with the weird music? It's like someone planned this... Haha" I don't think I can do this. Deep breaths. Okay. Did I just blow this whole thing over?

"Well, I guess it could be from the thunderstorm and as for the music well I'm not too sure" He laughed slightly and took his seat again, I sat across from him and smiled again. Okay.

"I'm so sorry again" I sighed "My name's Asami, I was coming to ask if come around here often because I swear I've seen you around here before"

"Yeah, I usually come with my little sister – she's here somewhere" He started to raise slowly to see over my head to see where she was. Oh shit.

"OH YEAH! I remember!" His head snapped back to me, his eyebrows raised "Her name's Misao right? Yeah, I just saw her with her friends at the other table"

He nodded his head and sat back down. Too close.

"So what do you remember?" He asked "And my name's Katsu. Katsu Yamahiro" Hm, his name means victory. Interesting.

"Oh, umm" I looked down and spotted a bag sitting at his foot with shoes sticking out. Basketball shoes "You play basketball right?"

I looked at him, still smiling widely. These cheekbones better be doing me some good because my jaw is seriously starting to hurt.

"Yeah, I used to play for the Touou team but.. I don't anymore" He clenched his jaw and looked away, soft topic? So he goes to Touou, which means Kazu does too. I wonder if he's on the team too, probably not since he didn't say anything.

"Oh, I watched a couple of games" I've never even seen them play, unless you count when I saw Aomine practice for about ten minutes. He didn't even look like we was playing seriously too so I don't think that really counts.

"Have you seen their Ace play? On the rare occasion that he does show up" He looked away bitterly "Aomine Daiki" He glowered and gripped the table so tightly that his knuckles went white. Okay, Aomine is a bit of an asshole but this seems a bit extreme.

"I've seen him practice once" I shrugged "He was pretty good"

"Asa-chan?" Shit. Both Katsu and I turned to see Atsuki and Kagami both standing before us. This is going to ruin everything "How come you didn't come to school today?"

"Hey Atsuki.. what are you doing here?" I asked, sending a look that clearly stated I wanted her to go away. She ignored this look and cheerfully tugged Kagami's sleeve so he moved closer to her.

"I was just here Taiga-kun and Tetsuya-kun" She slurped on her milkshake. Shit, that means Satoru's near the front of the line "Tetsuya-kun said he saw you and some other boys here, something about that girl in the corner"

"Girl in the corner? Misao?" Katsu stood up abruptly and looked over to the corner where Kazu and Misao were talking. I followed his gaze and saw Kazu still talking to Misao, who was blushing and laughing. I waved over and caught Caesar's attention, I jerked my head over to Katsu who had suddenly starting packing his bag and was now wearing a murderous look on his face. Caesar shook his head and mouthed the words 'get rid of him!'.

I looked over at Atsuki's confused face and then at Kagami's bored face and then at Katsu who had finished packing his bag. No way am I going to be the one who ruins the mission. I'm not going to give Satoru the satisfaction. I moved in front of Katsu and sent a well aimed kick at his kneecap and snatched the bag from his hands.

"OW! THE FUCK?" He yowled in pain "HEY! GIVE ME THAT BACK! THAT HAS MY STUFF IN IT!"

Wish me luck.

"KAZU YOU PRICK! YOU OWE ME!" I yelled at the top of my lungs before jumping over the chair Katsu was just sitting on and pushing the door open and ran into the rain with Katsu hot on my heels. I've only been out in this rain for about ten seconds and my hair is soaked.

"ASAMI! GIVE IT BACK" Shit, I didn't know he was this fast. He's almost caught up, I gripped the bag tighter and pumped my legs to go faster. I continued at this pace and the sound of his feet now became distant, I took the risk and looked behind me and sighed in relief when I could no longer make out his figure. I slowed down and took in my surroundings, where am I? I shivered slightly and looked around, I can see the basketball courts from here but I'm not sure from which side. I heard the distant call of my name from Katsu, shit he's still chasing me? What's in this bag anyways? I slipped the bag on, and rolled my back as I felt my shoulders sag under the weight.

I sighed and starting running again, extending my legs at a faster pace than before. He won't be able to catch up again. I took a sharp left and skidded (it's really hard to run in this rain) and went tumbling to the floor, scraping my hands in the process. Again. I pushed myself up so that I was on my knees and inspected my hands, though I couldn't see much because of this damn rain. I pushed my hair out of my face and sneezed. I went to stand up but a wave of dizziness washed over me.

Great, I'm going to get sick. Just awesome.

I leaned my shoulder against the cold brick beside me and breathed in a deep breath. I could still hear his voice calling me, I can always just throw his bag onto the road and let it get run over. That'd work but there don't seem to be any cars driving in this shitty weather. I can kick him again. I turned my back to the wall and slid down, I can just try and camouflage with this wall, I'm sure that'll work. I can't be sick, I've only been out in this rain for ten minutes, but I was in the rain before we got here. And I'm not wearing a jacket. And it was pretty cold last night when I was with Ryota. Out of all the times for me to get sick, it had to be when I was being chased by a 6'2 guy because I stole his bag. At least the rain seems to have stopped, I looked up and saw nothing black. I cocked my head to the left, huh, it sort of looks like the underside of an umbrella. I think it _is_ an umbrella, or am I hallucinating? Umbrellas don't just fall from the sky, do they?. I squinted my eyes and looked closer, I swear that's an umbrella.

"Never seen an umbrella before?" I jumped slightly and looked up to my left to see the face of Aomine. As in the guy that I seem to be repeatedly running in to. Quite literally too - I feel like I can always expect him to pop out of nowhere whenever I'm in a really bad situation. I would usually be freaking out right now but my head feels like it's about to explode. I sneezed again and rubbed my temples, I need to get out of here. I grabbed Aomine's lower arm and used it to pull me up so I was standing beside him. I heard Katsu's voice call out my name again, the anger clear in his tone and the voice didn't seem to far away. He's going to find me.

"Do you not own an umbrella?" I sneezed again and pulled on Aomine's arm so he stumbled forward, he sent me a questioning look which I ignored and pulled him in front of me so that I was facing his chest. Best hiding spot at the moment "This is probably illegal but I'm already a thief so adding 'sexual assault' onto my criminal record won't be too much of a hassle"

"Are you coming on to me?" He looked down, his face completely serious. What the hell?

"WHAT?! NO!" I jerked my head back then flinched when I hit my head on the wall behind me "Why would you think that?!"

"Well, the last time I saw you, you were half naked and now you're 'sexually assaulting' me" He replied easily. Well, that does sort of sound like I'm coming on to him. I opened my mouth to explain the whole situation but before I could get a word out he cut me off.

"If you are. I reject" He looked down at me, his voice dead serious "I have a strict 'only above d' rule"

"I'm sorry but -"

"And you clearly _just _borderline a 'b' cup" He pointed straight down at my top which now clung to my shirt. Are you serious? I admit, I definitely don't have the largest chest but come on, I'm not exactly – straight board for a chest. You can actually see that I have breasts! Sure, they aren't as big as some other people's but at least they're present, and even if I was to come on to someone, it would most definitely not be him of all people!

"I am not coming on to you" I seethed "I have a strict 'no assholes' rule" I glared up at him then roughly pushed him away. He took a step backwards, his face displaying a scowl that makes me even more pissed.

"You're really annoying" He glared as he took another step back "I've helped you out TWICE and I'm an asshole?"

"I didn't ask you to help me!"

"I wish I didn't!" He threw his hands up and clenched his fists tightly "You're the craziest girl I've ever met!"

"Well... you're the meanest!" I huffed, I mean – who does this guy think he is? Calling me crazy, I should just give a nice kick straight to the kneecap. Prick. I swear, some people are just so damn rude and if I -

"ASAMI!" Katsu's voice echoed down through the alleyway. Oh shit. Gotta get out of here.

"I hope to never see you again" I glared at Aomine and pushed him again (just for good measure) and started running down the pathway, Aomine was supposed to be my hiding spot but he's just pissed me the fuck off. I ignored Aomine's yells at me about how he hoped to never see my face again as well and continued to run (read: slide) down the pavement. I rubbed my eyes furiously as I tried to make out where I was, I heard the call of my name and I groaned again, how did he catch up so fast?

"Asami!" The voice was only a few metres behind me, I slowed down a bit and sighed. This is it. I guess, I'm caught. I felt someone grab the back of my shoulders and swivel me around roughly. I rubbed my eye again blearily and peered through my fingers to see their face.

"Rei?" Rei was grinning at me, an umbrella held over both his and the girl beside him's head. My eyes travelled from smudge of lipstick across his lips to his rumpled collar and down to the hastily buttoned shirt. Something tells me that they didn't go puppy searching. Ew.

"I heard what you did to Katsu" He unwound his left arm from the girl beside him and pulled me into a tight one-handed hug "Congratulations, you've been added to our crew – Kazu asked Misao out and she said yes. Well done" He hugged me tighter to his chest (that smelt strongly of lilacs – much alike the girl beside him), I raised my hands to shove him off me but he only held me tighter. Get him off me, I can't breathe, he's stopped oxygen that I'm supposed to be breathing.

"I'm so proud of you" With that he let go and sent me tumbling backwards, I sent him a glare which he ignored (again), I slipped my hand into my pockets and felt something buzz against my hand. Oh shit. That's my phone, I pulled it out and checked the message. Wow. Shit.

_13 messages. 23 missed calls. 7 new voicemails._

All of which are from Akita and 96% of them containing threats to decapitate me once I return home (that is, if I have the guts to return). I opened the most recent message and cringed before I even went past the first line.

_ASAMI! I'm going to kill you and make it look like an accident, both you and I know that I am capable of doing just that. You did not attend school today, I called and checked. You haven't answered your calls and Kise claimed that he hasn't seen you since this morning. I haven't the slightest clue where you may be but I want you home in fifteen minutes. Your mother and stepfather are here. If you fail to make it on time, you can expect all your basketballs to be flat and all your 'not-so-secret' stashes of liquorices to be hidden away._

_Get here. Now. _

Shit.

* * *

After leaving Rei and the random girl on the side of the road, I ran to the nearest bus stop (despite Rei calling me to return so we could have a celebration party for my 'initiation'), I then caught the bus to the top of the hill where my house is and proceeded to slip and fall down the said hill and roll down the hill in a very elegant fashion. After that embarrassing little show, I've now found myself here. In front of my house and figuratively shitting my pants now because

I don't want to die from the hands of my own Aunty. I'm too young to die

I don't want to see my stepfather

I most certainly do not want to see my mother.

I can do this, I'm no coward. I stepped forward, hands cold and pale from the rain and placed my hand on the doorknob. This is it, I guess. I took a deep breath and mentally prepared myself for the worst. I'm going to be killed by Akita. I don't want to die like this, I wanted to die in an unforgettable way like being pushed down a cliff into a stampede of wildebeests by my own brother (if you don't understand that reference, I can't be friends with you). I don't want to die from the hands of a pregnant woman who barely even reaches my shoulders. And it's worse because I'm pretty sure I've got a cold and I feel like my head is going to combust any moment now. Life isn't fair. I sighed again and pushed the door open.

The first thing I saw was my mother's smiling face, her bright hazel eyes were partially hidden under her short black hair. If you haven't already noticed, I'm almost the spitting image of her. With the exception of my skin tone, she's a lot paler than I am. Though everything else is pretty much the same – same eye colour, hair, cheekbones and the same lips. And I'm only maybe an inch taller than her. My eyes travelled over to the man standing next to her, he grimaced slightly at the sight of me, yeah, I guess it must be pretty awkward for him. He looked around my height, give or take a couple of centimetres, his hair was dyed a dark red colour that also partially hid his dark brown eyes. He doesn't look like a tool (which was how I was expecting him to look like), he looks... normal. I looked over to Akita, fully expecting her to have that gleam in her eye, that gleam that says 'I'm going to skin you alive' but instead she had a somber look on her face, I opened my mouth to apologise but I was immediately cut off by my mother.

"Asami, darling! I've been so worried! Why are you all wet? What happened?" I winced at the high pitched voice of my dear darling mother, I looked up and watched as she waddled over to me excitedly. She's still the same, I – wait. Why is she waddling? Unless that's Akita? No, that's definitely my mother. Why is she walking like that? I stared at her stomach and my eyes widened at the obvious bump. No. She could just be gaining some weight, maybe? Or I could be hallucinating, I think it's just the cold symptoms or something. No way.

"Why are you walking like that?" The words left my mouth before I could even process what I was saying. She stopped mid-waddle and laughed nervously, as she turned around to face her husband (who had the same nervous look).

"Darling, this? Oh well, you see" She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and giggled as she rubbed her stomach "Your father – no, stepfather and I … we're having a baby"

She beamed at me, her eyes sparkling with excitement and happiness. I felt the sides of my head ache and took a deep breath. She's pregnant, I attempted to take a step forward but instead clumsily tripped over the table leg, I latched onto the wall to steady myself and looked at her again. Pregnant. With a baby, a child, as there's a foetus in her uterus. She's pregnant.

"Asami? What's wrong?" The sharp voice carried itself all the way from the living room to me, that must be Akita.

"Asami? Asami?" Three different voices all called out to me but they all became a jumbled mess. Pregnant. Mother. Him. Asami.

"You're pregnant?" The question escaped my lips and I looked up to my mother, she nodded again and smiled nervously.

"We'll be your new family"

That was the last thing I heard before my eyes closed shut and I felt myself falling backwards into darkness.

* * *

**Authors Note: Sooo, I always get A LOT of questions which I always promise to answer but I never end up doing so. Yeah, Sorry about that but I promise I will try and find a way to answer all of them ASAP but yeah :L Hope you liked the chapter I hope Aomine doesn't come off as OOC. Anyways thanks for the feedback. **


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